Fate:A Certain Magical Index
by FreakFactor
Summary: The life of Kamijou Touma is takes an unexpected turn when he meets the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, the holder of 103,000 forbidden texts of the Church. As he tries to saves this strange girl with the help of his mysterious friend, he might lose more than he bargained for. When Magic and Science meet our story begins.
1. Arc 1:Prologue

**Fate/A Certain Magical Index**

Disclaimer: Fate/stay night and the Fate series belongs to Type-Moon and Toaru Majutsu no Index series to Kamachi Kazuma.

* * *

**July 19th. 12:49**

For most students it was just a couple of minutes away before Summer Vacations began, an important time for any high school student's life.

"SUCH MISFORTUNE!"

For a certain high school student, it was just another day filled with misfortune.

"Why can't I ever get a break?! I should have listened to Shiro!" Kamijou Touma cried as he continued to run through back alleys, lamenting having not heeded the advice of his friend. He glanced back over his shoulder.

There were still eight of them.

He ran frantically all over for almost 2 kilometers, but there were still eight of them. Of course, Kamijou Touma had no way to win in a fight against that many unless he happened to be a sunglasses, bartender's suit wearing bodyguard or a cyber ninja that had survived to the present day. In a fight between high school students, anything beyond 1-on-3 was out of the question. That could be called "impossible" even before taking any skill he might have had into account.

Kamijou kicked over a filthy plastic bucket and frightened off a black cat as he continued running.

It was July 19th.

The fault lay in that date. Because summer break would start the next day, he was in such high spirits that he grabbed a manga at the bookstore despite a glance at the cover telling him it was no good, entered a family restaurant to treat himself, for once, to a nice between-meals snack, found a middle school-aged girl surrounded by clearly drunk delinquents, and decided that some rescuing was in order.

He _really_ should've listened to Shiro's warning. Stupid Hero instincts.

But, he had not expected more of their comrades to come swarming out of the bathroom.

He had always thought that going to the bathroom in groups was something only girls did.

"I had to run out before the hellish goya and escargot lasagna I ordered even arrived. I didn't even get to eat anything, but I'm being treated like a dine-and-dasher. Even though I had already paid for it! What kind of misfortune is this!? Gyahh!"

Kamijou scratched his head as he ran out from the back alley and into the moonlit street.

Even if Academy City were as large as a third of Tokyo, if not a bit bigger, he could see nothing but couples no matter where he looked. That was also surely because it was July 19th.

'_It's all July 19th's fault!',_ Kamijou, who was single, shouted in his heart. The three blades of the wind turbines located here and there throughout the area glittered in the pale moonlight and the lights of the city nightscape, making them look like the tears of rich bachelors.

Kamijou tore through the couples as he ran through the city.

He ran and glanced down at his right hand. The power that resided there would be of no help in the current situation. It would not let him defeat even a single delinquent, it would not raise his scores on tests, and it would not make him popular with girls.

"Uuh…Such misfortune!" Our hero once more cried his catch phrase.

If he escaped the group of delinquents, they possibly would have used their phones to call in reinforcements and bikes. In order to simply run down their stamina, Kamijou Touma had been letting them catch occasional glimpses of him as bait so that they would continue to run and wear themselves out. It was akin to letting boxers hit you to weaken them.

Kamijou's goal was only to save any possible victims.

If he could lose them and have them give up without getting into a fistfight, he would win.

Incidentally, Kamijou had confidence in his long distance running. On the other hand, his opponents damaged their bodies with alcohol, cigarettes and were wearing boots with almost no real functionality. On top of that, running full speed for long distances without pacing one's self was impossible by its very nature.

As Kamijou alternated and weaved in and out through roads and back alleys while seemingly simply clumsily running about in a panic, he saw one and then another of the delinquents drop out of the chase, leaning forward with their hands on their knees. He felt his plan was the perfect way of resolving the situation without any injuries. Hopefully.

"D-damn it. Why do I have to waste my youth on this stuff!?"

Everywhere he looked, he saw nothing but couples full of dreams and happiness. Unable to stand it, Kamijou Touma felt as if he had somehow ended up on the short end of life. The date need only change and it would be summer break and yet he had neither love nor comedy to speak of. It made him feel like quite the loser.

He then heard one of the delinquents shouting from behind him.

"Hey! You fucking brat! Stop, you master runner!"

"Quit running and take your beating like a man!"

"Yeah, like that's going to make me stop running! Just be thankful I haven't turned around and kicked your ass!"

He really should thank me for going this far out of my way to keep him from getting injured, he thought.

After another 2 kilometers of sweaty and teary running, he exited the urban area and came to a large river. A large metal bridge spanned the river, about 150 meters across and no cars could be seen on it. Not lit up, the plain metal bridge was wrapped in an eerie darkness much like a midnight sea.

Kamijou glanced back as he darted across the bridge.

He then stopped: at some point, he had escaped all of his pursuers.

"Sh-shit. Did I finally shake them?"

Kamijou desperately suppressed the urge to sit down right then and there and sighed as he stared up into the night sky.

He had actually managed to resolve everything without having to punch anyone. He wanted to praise himself for that.

He really should have known better.

"Really now, what are you doing? Do you think protecting those delinquents makes you a good person? Are you some overzealous teacher?"

And he really, _really,_ should have listened to Shiro's warning.

In an instant, Kamijou's body froze over.

Because the bridge had no lights, Kamijou had not noticed the girl standing about 5 meters ahead in the direction he had been running, a completely normal middle school girl wearing a gray pleated skirt, a short-sleeved blouse, and a summer sweater. Kamijou stared up into the sky and seriously considered collapsing onto his back. The girl before him was the same one from the family restaurant.

"Wait, so that's why they stopped chasing me?"

"Yeah. They annoyed me, so I roasted them."

The zapping sound of bluish-white sparks echoed. Rather than a stun gun, as her shoulder-length brown hair swayed, sparks flew from it like an electrode.

The moment a convenience store bag in the wind passed by her head, it was blown away by bluish-white sparks reminiscent of an interception device.

"Ugh," sighed Kamijou wearily.

July 19th. That was why he had grabbed a manga at the bookstore despite a glance at the cover telling him it was no good, entered a family restaurant to treat himself, for once, to a nice between-meals snack, found a middle school-aged girl surrounded by clearly drunk delinquents, and decided that some rescuing was in order. However, Kamijou had not a single thought about rescuing the girl. Instead, had tried to rescue the boys who had carelessly approached her.

Once again he sighed. The girl was always like that. He had seen her here and there sporadically for almost a month, but they had yet to learn each other's names. In other words, they were by no means friends.

This time, the girl would arrogantly arrogantly attack in an attempt to beat her opponent into a pulp and Kamijou would be the one to put up with it. Without a single exception, it went that way and he won every time.

If he actually lost, the girl would likely be satisfied, but Kamijou was a terrible actor. He once tried to fake his defeat and she chased him like a demon for the rest of the night.

"…What did I even do?"

"I cannot allow anyone to be more powerful than me. That is enough of a reason."

That was how it was with her. He felt that even a character in a fighting game would have a more detailed incentive.

"But you're treating me like an idiot, too. I'm a Level 5. Do you really think I would go all out against a powerless Level 0? I do know how to handle the weak."

In that city, the usual standard of a back alley delinquent being the strongest in a fight did not hold up. Those delinquents who could not keep up with the psychic powers development Curriculum were the Level 0s, the powerless.

The truly strong in that city, the top-tier students, were espers.

"Yeah, about that, I do understand that you possess a talent that only 1 in 328,571 have. I really do. But if you want to live a long life, you should stop speaking to people so condescendingly."

"Shut up. If you couldn't bend a single spoon after having various crazy things done to you like have drugs injected directly into your blood vessels or have electrodes stabbed in through your ears and into the brain, what could it be but lack of talent?"

"…"

That was indeed the kind of place Academy City was.

The other side of Academy City could be seen in how means of developing the brain had been calmly added into the Curriculum under the name of "documentation methods" or "memorization methods".

However, not all of the 2.5 million students living in Academy City had ceased to be human and became something like a manga protagonist.

Just under 60% of the whole population were utterly useless Level 0s who could only bend a spoon after focusing their brain to the point of blood vessel bursts.

Not counting a special group of Level 0s who were mentioned in Urban Legends.

"If I need to bend a spoon, I can just use pliers, and if I need fire, I can just buy a cheap lighter. Also, what do I need telepathy for when I have a cell phone? Are psychic powers really that great?"

Those were the words of Kamijou who had been branded as useless by Academy City's physical examination sensors.

"And everyone's priorities are all messed up. They're all rejoicing over the byproduct we call psychic powers, but isn't our real objective something beyond that?"

In response, the girl who was one of Academy City's seven Level 5s twisted the edges of her lips.

"Hahh? …Oh, that. What was it again? Something like, 'Humans cannot calculate god, so we need to acquire a body that exceeds humanity before we can arrive at god's answer', right?" The girl gave a haughty laugh. "Hah. Don't make me laugh. What is all this about the 'brain of god'? Have you heard about the supposed military Sisters created based on an analysis of my DNA map? It seems to me these lucrative side effects are more important than that objective."

After saying that, the girl suddenly stopped.

In the silence, it felt as if the quality of the air was changing.

"…For God's sake, those are the words of the strong."

"Hah?"

"The strong. The strong. The strong. Those are the fearless and cruel words of a manga protagonist who was born with his abilities and does not understand the pain of arriving there on his own."

The river below the bridge began to make an unsettling amount of noise.

A dark flame could be felt on the grit of her words that hinted at just how much of her humanity she had abandoned to arrive at the position of one of Academy City's seven Level 5s.

Kamijou denied all of it with just a few words. Not even once did he turn around.

He did this by never losing.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait! Take a look at the results of the annual physical examination. I'm a Level 0 and you're a Level 5. Ask anyone you find out on the streets, and they'll tell you who's stronger!"

Academy City's powers development heavily used things such as pharmaceutics, neuroscience, and cerebral physiology. It was a purely scientific endeavor. After undergoing the Curriculum to a certain extent, one could bend a spoon even without talent.

And yet Kamijou Touma could do nothing.

According to Academy City's instruments, he was truly powerless.

"Zero, you say," repeated the girl as if she was turning it over in her mouth. She stuck a hand in her skirt pocket and pulled out an arcade coin. "Have you ever heard the term Railgun?"

"Ahn?"

"The idea behind it is the same as a linear motor train. It is a ship-borne weapon that uses powerful electromagnets to fire a metal projectile."

The girl flicked the coin up into the air with her thumb. The coin rotated a few times before landing back onto her thumb.

"It refers to something like this."

Just as she spoke, an orange spear of light suddenly and silently shot past Kamijou's head. It was more like a laser than a spear. He could only tell it had originated from the girl's thumb because the afterimage of light stretched back to it.

Almost like thunder, the noise rumbled in with a slight delay. As a shockwave tore through the air around his ears, Kamijou's sense of balance was partially destroyed. He staggered and glanced over his shoulder.

The instant the orange light struck the road surface on the bridge, the asphalt was blown away like an airplane making an emergency landing on the ocean. Even after travelling a 30 meter path of utter destruction and stopping, the orange afterglow was still burning the air like an afterimage.

"Even a coin like this can be quite powerful when it's fired at three times the speed of sound. Of course, the coin melts after 50 meters because of air friction."

That bridge made of steel and concrete swayed like an unreliable suspension bridge. Failing metal bolts could be heard occasionally.

"…!"

Kamijou felt chilled like dry ice was stuffed into his blood vessels.

He felt like all the moisture in his body had been turned to sweat and evaporated.

"Damn you. Don't tell me you used that to drive them away!"

"Don't be stupid. I match my methods to my opponent. I don't want to accidentally become a murderer." As she spoke, sparks flew from the girl's brown hair like an electrode. "This was enough for those Level 0s!"

Bluish-white sparks flew from the girl's bangs like a horn and a spear-like line of lightning flew towards Kamijou.

There was no way to evade. After all, he was against a bluish-white lightning spear shot from a Level 5's hair. It was an experience like watching a thundercloud fire a bolt at light speed and then try to dodge it.

An explosive noise followed after a slight delay.

Kamijou immediately held up his right hand to protect his face and the lightning spear struck it. It rampaged through Kamijou's body and sparks scattered in every direction and into the bridge's steel framework.

…Or so it had seemed.

"So, why are you completely unhurt?"

Her words seemed lighthearted enough, but the girl baring her canines was glaring at Kamijou. It kind of reminded him of a rabid wolf.

The high voltage current that had scattered into the surroundings had been powerful enough to burn the steel framework of the bridge, yet,

Kamijou's right hand had not been blown off by the direct hit. …In fact, it lacked even a single burn.

Kamijou's right hand had negated the girl's electrical strike that numbered a few hundred million volts.

"Honestly, what's with you? That power of yours isn't listed in Academy City's Bank. If I'm a one in 328,571 genius, then you're a one in 2,500,000 disaster," the girl muttered in annoyance but Kamijou neglected to give even a single word in response. "If I pick a fight with an exception like that, I might be able to raise my level, don't you think?" [1]

"…But you always lose." He really should learn when to keep his mouth closed.

He received a response in the form of more lightning that shot from her forehead, well over mach one at that.

However, it scattered in every direction the instant it met Kamijou's right hand.

It was very much like a water balloon bursting. One that was filled with lightning instead of water.

Imagine Breaker.

Psychic powers ranged from the ones mocked on TV to some that appeared out of some kind of shonnen manga to the ones established with numerical formulas in Academy City. Anything using that kind of supernatural power, even if it were part of god's system, would be negated without question by that supernatural power of his.

As it was supernatural in origin, even that girl's Railgun ability was no exception.

However, Kamijou's Imagine Breaker only worked on the supernatural power itself. Simply, he could negate an esper's fireball, but he was still vulnerable to the concrete shards broken by the fireball. Also, the effective range was only his right hand and wrist. If the fireball hit him anywhere else, he would be burned.

And yet…

'_I really, really thought I was going to die there! Kyaahhh!'_ He thought frantically.

Kamijou Touma's calm and composed expression stiffened awkwardly. Even with a right hand that could completely negate those light-speed lightning spears, it was sheer coincidence that they struck his right hand.

His heart was pounding in his chest as he desperately tried to force a mature smile onto his face. He failed.

"I guess you could say that was either some misfortune or you're just unlucky."

That was how Kamijou brought that day, July 19th, to an end.

With just one comment, he seemed to be lamenting to everything in the world.

"You just really aren't lucky at all."

Specially the way he lived a life that is undoubtedly blessed with misfortune.

* * *

A young nun was currently jumping from roof to roof, making sure to carefully calculate her trajectory when suddenly…

**BOOM!**

The sudden flash of lightning made her loose her footing and she fell hitting her head on her way down before landing on the balcony's window, unconscious.

* * *

**BOOM!**

A red haired teen looked up from where he was fixing a bike just in time to see a lightning bolt fall from the mysterious thunder clouds that had suddenly appeared on District 7.

More specifically, over a certain iron railway bridge.

"Touma should really learn to keep his mouth shut." Emiya Shiro said as he watched as most of the City was swallowed by darkness.

* * *

**Author's Notes: I was inspired to make this story by a picture I once found on Google, as well as the fic _"Intertwine"_ written by EXpertUS. Also most of the stories comes from Baka-Tsuki except for some parts here and there.**** Make sure to review before you go read something better.**


	2. Arc 1:Chapter 1

**Fate/A Certain Magical Index**

Disclaimer: Fate/stay night and the Fate series belongs to Type-Moon and Toaru Majutsu no Index series to Kamachi Kazuma.

* * *

"You Aquarii born between January 20th and February 18th have the greatest luck in love, work, and money! No matter how incredibly improbable things may get, only good things will happen, so how about you go play the lottery!? But no matter how popular you may be, don't try dating three or four girls at the same time ."

"It's hot..." Touma complained as he woke up.

It was July 20th, the first day of summer break.

Kamijou Touma was at a loss for words in his Academy City dorm room that was ruled by a boiling heat due to a broken air conditioner. Apparently, lightning had struck during the night and had taken out 80% of the electrical appliances, meaning that the contents of his fridge had been wiped out.

When he tried to eat the cup yakisoba he kept as emergency rations, he had spilled the noodles all over the sink. With no other option, he decided to eat out, but he stepped on and broke his ATM card while searching for his wallet.

When he spitefully crawled back into bed to cry himself to sleep, he was woken by a love call on the phone from his homeroom teacher saying, "Kamijou-chan, you're an idiot, so you need supplementary lessons "

He had always felt that horoscopes given on TV like weather forecasts tended to be just that, forecasts, but he was unable to laugh it off when it was that false.

"…Such misfortune."

But he had no intention of just lazing around because of bad luck.

Kamijou did not rely on luck. In other words, he had a lot of drive.

"…Now then. The immediate problems are my card and the fridge."

Kamijou scratched his head and looked around his room. As long as he had his bankbook, he could get a new card easily enough. The real problem was the fridge… or rather, breakfast.

It could be just his luck if he ended in the special supplementary lessons with Shizuo-Sensei, which were worse than the normal supplementary lessons other student went through. And that was something no one should go through without at least eating something.

As he changed out of the T-shirt he wore instead of pajamas and into his summer uniform, Kamijou considered stopping by a convenience store on the way to school. Living up to his position as an idiotic student, Kamijou had pointlessly stayed up all night as summer break approached, so a grinding pain was running through his sleep-deprived mind. However, he forced himself to think positively.

'_Well, I guess I'm getting off easy if a single week will wrap up everything I missed in the four months' worth of class I skipped this term'_, Kamijou thought.

His mood rebounded to the extent that he suddenly muttered, "The weather sure is nice. Maybe I should air out my futon."

Kamijou then opened the screen door to the balcony, where he expected the futon to be nice and fluffy once he got back from his supplementary lessons.

"The sky is so blue, but my future is pitch black "

His spirits dropped sharply. Forcing himself to say it cheerfully only had the opposite effect.

While thinking, he felt something soft squish under his foot and looked down to find yakisoba bread still in its plastic wrapping. It had been in the aforementioned ruined refrigerator, so it had surely gone bad.

"…I just hope it doesn't suddenly start raining this evening." Voicing a sudden bad premonition he had, Kamijou trudged out the opened screen door and to the balcony.

He spotted a white futon already hanging there.

"?"

Though it was a school dormitory, the layout was exactly like a one-room apartment so Kamijou lived alone. As such, no one besides Kamijou Touma would hang a futon over the railing of his room's balcony.

When he looked closer, he realized it was not a futon at all, but a girl wearing white clothes.

"Hahh!?"

The real futon fell from his hands.

It was a mystery. In fact, it was nonsensical. As if she had exhaustedly collapsed across a metal rod, the girl had her waist pressed up against the balcony railing and her body bent such that her arms and legs were dangling straight down.

Her age was about 14 or 15. She looked about a year or two younger than Kamijou. She must have been foreign because her skin was pure white and her hair was as well... No, silver. Her hair was rather long, so it completely covered her upside down head, hiding her face from view. Kamijou guessed it must go down to her waist normally.

Her clothes...

"Wah, it's a real sister… The nun kind, not the sibling kind."

It was that outfit you expected to see on a nun in a church. Her clothes looked a bit like a long dress that reached her ankles, and she wore a one-piece hood over her head that was a bit different from a hat. However, while normal nun habits were jet black, hers was pure white. Also, at all the important points of the outfit, embroideries made of golden thread were sown in. Kamijou could not believe just how much the impression given by the same design could change by altering the color scheme. What he saw reminded him of a nouveau riche teacup.

The girl's lovely fingertips twitched. Her head slowly rose from its hanging position. Her silk-like silver hair smoothly split to either side like a curtain and the girl's face appeared from between the long, long hair.

'_Wah, wah…!' _

The girl's face was relatively cute. Her white skin and green eyes were a new experience for someone with zero overseas experience like Kamijou, and she somehow seemed like a doll to him.

However, that was not what had left Kamijou so flustered.

She was a foreigner and Kamijou Touma's English teacher had suggested he take up a lifelong policy of avoiding foreigners. If someone from some strange country suddenly started talking on and on to him, he would likely end up buying a down comforter without even realizing it.

"I…"

The girl's cute but slightly dried lips slowly moved.

Kamijou thoughtlessly took a step or two back. With a squish, he stepped on the yakisoba bread once more.

"I'm hungry."

"…"

For an instant, Kamijou thought he was so dim witted that his mind had automatically substituted the foreign language he had heard with Japanese. Similar to how dim elementary school kids would give ridiculous lyrics to songs that they did not know the real lyrics to.

"I'm hungry."

"…"

"I'm hungry."

"…"

"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm hungry?"

The silver-haired girl seemed to get a little irate at how Kamijou stood there, frozen.

'_No. That settles it. This can't be anything other than Japanese'_, he thought.

"Ah, umm…" he said as he stared at the girl draped over the balcony railing. "What? Are you trying to say you collapsed from exhaustion or something?"

"You could also say I have collapsed and am about to die."

"…"

The girl could speak Japanese really well.

"It would be great if you could feed me enough food to fill me up."

Kamijou looked down at the squished and likely spoiled yakisoba-pan still in its wrapper at his feet. He had no idea what was going on, but knew he would be better off not getting involved. In the hopes of happily sending the girl off to some distant place, he stuck the squished bread up to her mouth. He was sure she would run off once she caught a whiff of the sour smell, so he meant it as something similar to chazuke being offered to a guest one wanted to leave in Kyoto.

"Thank you. And it's time to eat."

Her mouth engulfed it along with the wrapping, Kamijou's arm included.

Once again, Kamijou's day began with a scream and a taste of misfortune.

* * *

"I suppose I need to start with an introduction."

"Actually, I would rather you started explaining why you were sun tanning out there."

"My name is Index."

"That's clearly a fake name! What do you mean Index!? What are you, a table of contents!?"

"As you can see, I am from the church. This is important. Oh, but I'm not from the Vatican. I'm from the Anglican Church."

"I don't know what that means and you're just going to ignore my questions!?"

"Hmm, is Index lacking? Well then, my magic name is Dedicatus545."

"Hello? Hello? Just what kind of alien am I talking to?"

Kamijou did not understand so he dug his finger inside his ear, and Index chewed on her thumbnail. Was that a habit of hers?

Kamijou wondered why they were politely sitting there facing each other from across a glass table like it was a marriage interview.

If he did not leave soon, he would be late for his supplementary lessons, but he could hardly leave this strange person in his room. To make matters worse, the mysterious silver-haired girl calling herself Index seemed to have taken a liking to the room to the point that she seemed willing to laze about on the floor.

Had Kamijou's misfortune called her here? He whole-heartedly hoped not.

"Anyways, it would be great if you could feed me enough food to fill me up."

"Why would I do that!? I don't want to raise your love meter. I'd rather die than activate some weird flag and end up stuck on the Index route!"

"Um… is that slang? I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're saying."

Typical of a foreigner, she had no knowledge of the Japanese otaku culture.

"But if I leave now, I'll collapse three steps out the door."

"...Don't give me that collapsing nonsense."

"I'll gather my last remaining strength to leave a dying message: a picture of you."

"Wha-?"

"And, if someone happens to save me, I'll tell them I was imprisoned in this room and tormented to the point of collapse. I'll let them know you forced your cosplaying preferences onto me."

"Don't you dare say that! So, you do know a thing or two about otaku culture, don't you!?"

"?"

She tilted her head to the side like a kitten seeing itself in the mirror for the first time.

He regretted letting her get him agitated, feeling like he alone was somehow horribly cheated.

Okay, let's do it! Kamijou thought.

He noisily headed toward the kitchen. Only spoiled goods were left in the fridge so it would cost nothing to feed her. The boy figured it would be fine if the food were heated. He dumped everything into a frying pan and made something similar to stir-fried vegetables.

Come to think of it, where did this girl come from? He wondered.

Naturally, there were people out of country in Academy City. However, she did not have the characteristic "scent" of a resident. Nonetheless, it was also strange for someone to come in from outside.

Academy City was treated like a city made up of hundreds of schools, but it was more accurate to consider it like a city-sized boarding school. It was large enough to cover a third of Tokyo, but was surrounded by something akin to the Great Wall of China; though not as strict as a prison, it was still not a place one could simply wander into.

...Or so it had seemed. In reality, three satellites launched for experiments by a technical college were constantly monitoring the city. Every individual going in or out of the city was completely scanned and if any suspicious person for whom the gate records did not match, either Anti-Skill or Judgment from different schools would immediately intervene.

But... that zapper of a girl reigned in that thundercloud yesterday. That might have hidden Index from the satellites, he considered.

"So why were you sun tanning out on my balcony?" Kamijou once more asked the girl as he put soy sauce on the stir-fried vegetables-like dish he was making with purely ill intentions.

"I wasn't sun tanning."

"Then what were you doing? Were you blown over and landed there?"

"...Something like that."

Kamijou meant it as a joke and stopped moving the frying pan as he turned around to face the girl.

"I fell. I was trying to jump from rooftop to rooftop."

Rooftop?

Kamijou looked up at the ceiling. Cheap student dorms lined the building level and even more of the same types of eight-story buildings were lined up. One glance out the balcony showed a gap of two meters between buildings. It was true that a running jump could get you from one rooftop to another. However...

"But that's eight stories high? One wrong step and you'd be heading straight to hell." He only knew of a handful of people who were capable of such feats.

"Yes, you don't even get a grave if you commit suicide," said Index cryptically. "But I had no choice. I had no other means of escape."

"Escape?"

Kamijou frowned at that ominous word.

"Yes," said Index like a child. "I was being chased."

"..."

Kamijou's hand shaking the hot frying pan stopped moving once more.

"I made my jump fine, but I was shot in the back in midair." The girl calling herself Index seemed to smile. "I apologize. It seems I was caught on your balcony as I fell."

She tossed an innocent smile in Kamijou Touma's direction without even a hint of self-deprecation or sarcasm.

"You were shot...?"

"Yes? Oh, you don't need to worry about a wound. These clothes also function as a defensive barrier."

What did she mean by a defensive barrier? Was it a bulletproof vest?

The girl spun around as if to show off new clothes and certainly did not seem injured. Kamijou had to wonder whether she really had been shot. The concept that she was delusional or making it up seemed more realistic.

But...

The fact remained that she had indeed been hanging from his seventh story balcony.

If, hypothetically, everything she was saying were true…

Who shot her?

Kamijou deliberated.

He thought about how determined one would have to be to jump between the rooftops of an eight-story building. He also considered how lucky she was to be caught on his seventh-story balcony and the hidden meaning behind the fact that she collapsed.

She said she was being chased.

His final thoughts wondered the meaning of the smile on Index's face as she said those words.

He knew not what circumstances Index was in and understood not what the few things she told him had meant. Most likely, he could only understand half of it if Index explained everything from start to finish and would still have no idea how to even begin to understand the latter half.

Nonetheless, one truth remained.

With a tightening in his chest, he finally accepted the fact that she had gotten caught on his seventh-story balcony when one wrong step could have sent her straight to the asphalt below.

"Food."

Index poked her head from behind Kamijou. Despite her Japanese fluency, she must not have had much experience with chopsticks because she held them in a fist like a spoon while she excitedly stared into the frying pan.

Her eyes were like a kitten's taken from a cardboard box on a rainy day.

"...Ah..."

Kamijou put the (former) food into the frying pan to make something like (poisonous) stir-fried vegetables. For some reason, the angel in Kamijou, whom usually came along with the devil Kamijou, was writhing horribly at the sight of the starving girl.

"Ahh! I-I know! If you're really that hungry, how about we go to a proper family restaurant rather than give you this horrible meal made by a man with leftovers!? We can even get it delivered!"

"I can't wait that long."

"...Ah ...kh!"

"And it isn't horrible. You made this food for me without charging anything. It has to be good." For the first time, she gave a shining, nun-like smile.

As pain assaulted Kamijou like his stomach was being wrung like a wet cloth, Index scooped the contents of the frying pan out with her fist-held chopsticks and into her mouth.

Munching.

"See? It's good."

"...Oh, is it?"

Chomping.

"It's nice that you added that sour flavor to me help get my strength back."

"Geh! It's sour!?"

Chewing.

"Yeah, but that's fine. Thanks. You're like a big brother or something."

She gave a large grin as she ate with such a pure heart that she had a bean sprout stuck to her cheek.

"...Gh ...Uuwhaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!"

With the speed of sound, Kamijou grabbed the frying pan while Index looked incredibly displeased. However, Kamijou swore in his heart that he would be the only one to fall down into hell.

"Are you hungry too?"

"...Hah?"

"If not, I'd rather you let me eat the rest."

As Kamijou watched Index look at him with slightly upturned eyes while she chewed on the end of her chopsticks,

Kamijou received a divine revelation.

God told him to take responsibility and eat it himself.

This had nothing to do with misfortune; he had completely brought it upon himself.

Kamijou Touma stuffed his mouth full of the fried garbage and grinned.

"Mhh," grunted the girl calling herself Index with a look of complaint on her face as she gnawed on a biscuit. The way she held the small biscuit in both hands made her seem a bit like a squirrel.

"Okay, you said you were being chased. Chased by whom?"

Having returned from his Nirvana, Kamijou once again asked about the biggest issue in her story.

He was not about to follow a girl he had met less than 30 minutes ago down to the depths of hell. Not until he heard her story anyway. Stupid Hero instincts.

However, it was already likely too late for nothing itself to happen.

'_So in the end, I have to go with fox's words'_, thought Kamijou, using a personal term for the sake of feigned kindness.

He knew it would likely resolve nothing, but he still desired to comfort himself by feeling that he did _something_.

"Hmm…" she said with a slightly dry throat. "Now who was it? Maybe it was the Rosicrucians or S.M., also known as Stella Matutina. I think it was a group like that, but I don't know their name yet. …They aren't the type to find meaning in names."

"They…?" Kamijou asked meekly.

Apparently, she was being chased by a group or organization.

"Yes," said Index surprisingly calmly. "A sorcerer's society."

…

…

…

"Hah? Sorcerer? Hah? What!? That's crazy!"

"Eh? Huh? W-Was my Japanese weird there? I mean magic. A magic cabal."

"…" Hearing so in English improved nothing. "What? What? Are you talking about some dangerous cult? Like a cult that says not believing in its leader will result in divine punishment and then proceed to give you LSD and brainwash you? That's bad in more ways than one."

"…Are you making fun of me?"

"…Sorry, I just can't… I can't accept magic. I may know all sorts of psychic powers like pyro-kinesis and clairvoyance, but I just can't accept magic."

"…?"

Index looked confused.

She had likely expected a believer in only science to deny that any kind of strange thing could exist in the world.

"You should really keep a more open minded mentality." Shirou said as walked out of the kitchen with a plate full of onigiri.

"Whaa!" His sudden entrance was meet with surprise from both Index and Touma.

"Shirou! When did you get here?!" Touma asked as he tried to get his heart to calm down.

"Just now actually. Komoe-Sensei sent me to make sure you got to school on time." Shirou answered as he took a bit from one of the rice balls he had made. "Got you this in case your misfortune kept you from getting breakfast."

"Thanks." Touma said as he took one before passing it to Index, who munched on it happily before picking one for himself.

"Touma, Touma, who is this mysterious person?" Index asked as she eyed the new person warily.

"Well, he's my fellow neighbor and best friend Emiya Shirou." Touma answered.

"Nice to meet you." Shirou said as he bowed in greetings to Index, who bowed back to him. She then kept eating the rice balls he had brought.

"Anyway," Touma continued his explanation, knowing Shirou had heard more than enough to understand what was going on from his comment moments ago and that he preferred to just observe. "Psychic powers are pretty common here. Anyone's brain can be 'developed' and have the pathways open up by having 'esperin' injected into their veins, electrodes attached to their neck, and certain rhythms played through headphones. It can all be explained scientifically, so it's only natural to accept, right?"

"…I don't really get it."

"It's normal! It's completely normal, utterly normal. Is three times enough!?"

"…Then what about magic? Magic is normal."

Index sulked like someone insulted her pet cat.

"Umm… Well, take Rock-paper-scissors for example. Wait, is Rock-paper-scissors known worldwide?"

"…I think it's from Japanese culture, but I do know it."

"Okay, if you played Rock-paper-scissors ten times in a row and lost each time, would there be a reason behind that?"

"…Mh."

"_There wouldn't, right? But it's human nature to think there is_," said Kamijou with little interest. "You'd think there'd be no way you would keep losing like that. You would assume there was some unseen rule, and once you start thinking like that, what happens when you factoring in things like horoscopes?"

"…You mean like, 'you cancers are unlucky, so you shouldn't compete in any competitions'?"

"Right, that's the occult's true identity. Luck is just our dreaming for these invisible rules. While reality is just pathetic coincidence, our hearts mistake it as some great inevitability. That's the occult."

For a bit, Index frowned like a displeased cat, but then said, "So you didn't just deny it without giving any thought."

"Right. _And it's because I've given it such serious thought _that I can see why those musty old stories are no good. I can't believe in some magician from a picture book. If we could raise the dead with the only cost being a bit of MP, no one would be developing these other powers. I simply can't believe in the supernatural that has no connection to real science."

He felt that people only saw psychic powers as strange and mysterious because they were ignorant. The fact that those powers could be explained scientifically was common knowledge in that city.

"…But magic exists," Index said as she pouted.

Most likely, magic was like a pillar supporting her heart, similar to Kamijou's Imagine Breaker.

"Well, whatever. So, why are they chasing you?"

"Magic exists."

"…"

"Magic exists!"

It seemed she obstinately wanted him to acquiesce. Shirou just smirked at his plight, glad he hadn't participated at all on the conversation.

"Th-Then what is magic? Can you shoot fire from your hands without undergoing our psychic curriculum? If so, I'd like to see it. I might believe you then."

"I have no magic power, so I can't do that."

"…"

Kamijou felt like he had just met an esper failure that said they could not bend a spoon around a camera because it distracted them.

All the while, a rather complex feeling filled his chest.

He insisted that the occult did not exist and that magic was ridiculous, but he really knew nothing about the Imagine Breaker power that resided in his right hand. How did it work and what was going on that he could not see? Academy City was at the peak of the world's powers development, but even its System Scan failed to analyze his power. Consequently, he was labeled Level 0.

Also, that power had not appeared later due to a scientific timetable. It resided in his right hand from birth.

He insisted the occult did not exist and yet he himself was a part of the supernatural that ignored the rules.

Regardless, he refused to accept the ridiculous reasoning that magic could easily exist simply because there were strange things in the world.

And from the way he was smirking, Shirou probably knew what was going on in his head. Bastard.

"…Magic exists."

Kamijou sighed.

"Okay. _For argument's sake_, let's say that magic exists."

"_For argument's sake_?"

"If it does," continued Kamijou, ignoring her. "Why are they after you? Does it have something to do with how you're dressed?"

Kamijou was referring to the rather extravagant nun habit that Index wore, made of pure white silk and golden thread embroideries. In other words, "Is this church related?"

"…It's because I am the Index."

"Hah?"

"They are likely after the 103,000 grimoires that I have."

…

…

…

"…Once again, I don't understand at all."

"Why do you seem to lose motivation every time I explain something? Are you the fickle type?"

"Um, let's go back over this. I'm not sure what these mentioned grimoires are, but imagine it's a book, like a dictionary."

"Yes. The Book of Eibon, the Lemegeton, Unaussprechlichen Kulten, Cultes des Goules, and the Book of the Dead are good examples. The Necronomicon is so famous there are all sorts of imitations and fakes, so it isn't very reliable."

"No, I don't really care about the contents."

He wanted to add that it was "because it's all a bunch of nonsense anyways", but thanks to Shiro's glare he held his tongue.

He instead asked, "So, where are these 100,000 books?"

He refused to back down on that point, one hundred thousand books were enough to fill an entire library.

"Do you mean you have a key to where they're stored?"

"No." Index shook her head. "I have every single one of the 103,000 grimoires with me."

"Hah?" Kamijou frowned. "You aren't going to say these are books idiots can't see, are you?"

"You couldn't see them even if you weren't an idiot. There'd be no point if anyone could see them."

Index's words were so removed from reality that Kamijou felt he was being mocked. He glanced around, but could not see a single musty old book that may have been a grimoire. All he saw scattered on the floor were game magazines, manga, and the summer homework he had tossed into a corner.

"…Wahh."

He had forced himself to listen up until then, but was at his limit.

He began to wonder whether she had merely imagined being chased. If she had jumped from the eighth story rooftop, slipped on her own, and gotten caught on his balcony all due to a delusion, she was not someone he wanted to involve himself with any longer.

"I think she meant the contents, not the actual books." Shirou finally contributed to the conversation. Touma looked at him in surprise.

"Correct." Index nodded.

"I still don't believe in magic." Touma remained stubborn on his belief.

"Believing in psychic powers but not in magic makes no sense," Index said with a pout. "Are those psychic powers really all that great? It isn't right to make fun of people just because you have some kind of special power."

…

"Well, yeah." Kamijou gave a small sigh. "I agree. It's not right. It's wrong to think of yourself as above others just because you can pull off some little trick."

Kamijou's gaze dropped to his right hand.

No fire or lightning would come. It could not cause any beams of light or explosions, and no strange markings were going to appear on his wrist.

However, his right hand could negate all kinds of supernatural powers, disregarding if the power were good or evil or even the systems of God seen in myths.

Not to mention Shirou's ability to create sword, this was looked down by almost everyone who hadn't seen what he could do with just a wooden sword.

"Well, for the people who live in this city, the power they have is like a part of their personality, so you should probably be a bit forgiving as far as that goes. In fact, I'm one of those espers, too."

"Is that so, idiot. Hmph. You can always just bend a spoon with your hand instead of messing around inside your head."

"…"

"Hmph, hmph. What's so great about a guy who cast aside his natural shade to color himself artificially? Hmph."

"…You don't mind if I shut that mouth of yours along with that ridiculous pride, do you?"

"Touma calm down."

"I-I won't give in to terrorism. Hmph," said Index like a displeased cat. "A-anyway, you say you're an esper, but what can you do?"

"Umm, well, if you put it that way…"

Kamijou was a bit unsure of what to say.

It was not often that Kamijou explained his right hand to others. Also, since it only reacted to supernatural powers, it could not be explained without knowledge of the supernatural or psychic.

"You see, it's this right hand of mine. Oh, and in my case, it isn't doping; I've had it from birth."

"I see."

"If I touch it with my right hand, any kind of supernatural power will be negated. That goes for A-bomb level fireballs, tactical railguns, or even the workings of God."

"Eh?"

"Why does your face look like you just saw a good luck miracle stone in some magazine?"

"But… you don't even know the God's name, but yet you just said you can negate His miracles." In surprise, Index dug her pinky into her ear while giving a scornful laugh.

"…Kh. Th-This is really annoying. I kind of hate being made fun of by some kind of fake magical girl who claims magic exists but can't prove it."

That muttering of Kamijou Touma's soul seemed to upset Index.

"I-I'm not a fake! Magic really exists!"

"Then show me something, Halloween girl! You aren't going to believe my Imagine Breaker until I destroy something with my right hand anyway. C'mon, fantasy head!"

"Fine, I will!" Index threw both her hands above her head in annoyance. "Here! These clothes! They're the highest quality of defensive barrier called the Walking Church!"

Index spread her arms to show off the teacup-like nun's habit.

"The Walking Church? What? You're not making any sense! It's not very nice to keep using these incomprehensible technical terms like Index and defensive barrier, y'know!? Explaining things means to tell them to someone who doesn't understand in a form simple enough to become understandable. Do you not get that!?"

"Wha-? How dare you say that when you aren't even making attempts to understand!?" Index swung her arms around in anger. "Fine, seeing is believing, right? Take a knife from the kitchen and stab me in the gut!"

"Stab you!? Is this going to end up as a news story that says 'it all started with a pointless argument' or something?"

"Ah, you don't believe me." Index's shoulders rose and fell as she breathed heavily. "These have the bare minimum of components required to make up a church: so, they are a church in the form of clothes. The way the cloth is woven, the way the threads are sewn, the way the embroideries decorate it… It's all calculated. A knife won't even put a scratch on it."

"Yeah, right. What kind of idiot would just agree to stab you? He'd have to be an unprecedented kind of juvenile criminal."

Shiro quickly dismissed the blades he had summoned. Both Index and Touma ignored him.

"Will you ever stop mocking me? This is an accurate copy of the Shroud of Turin, the cloth worn by the Saint that was stabbed by the Lance of Longinus, so its strength is Pope-class. I guess you would say it's something like a nuclear shelter. It turns aside or absorbs any attack, be it physical or magical. I told you I got caught on your balcony after getting shot, right? Well, I would have a giant hole in me if it wasn't for the Walking Church. Do you understand now?

_Shut up, idiot_, Kamijou thought angrily.

"Oh, I just know where this is going." Shirou said as he quickly made his way out of the appartment through the window.

Kamijou's appreciation gauge toward Index rapidly dropped and he stared at her clothes with scorn.

"…Hmm. So if that really is a supernatural power, would it be torn to pieces if I touched it with my right hand?"

"Yes, but only if your power is real. Heh heh heh."

"Perfect!" shouted Kamijou as he grabbed Index's shoulder.

As if he had grabbed a cloud, it strangely felt like the impact was absorbed by a soft sponge.

"Wait… huh?"

Kamijou cooled his head and thought.

What if everything Index was saying was true, as unlikely as that was, and this Walking Church really was sewn together with supernatural power?

Would negating that supernatural power truly rip her clothes to pieces?

"Huuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?"

Kamijou reflexively yelled out at the sudden premonition he had that he was about to suddenly go up a few steps on the stairway to adulthood. But…

…

…

…?

"Ehhhhhhh? ...Huh?"

Nothing happened. Nothing happened at all.

'_Oh, jeez, don't make me worry like that'_, he thought with relief.

Kamijou just could not stand it.

"See? What was all this about your Imagine Breaker? Nothing at all happened. Heh heh."

Index put her hands on her hips and puffed her small chest in pride.

But in the next instant, her clothes fell straight down like a gift's ribbon.

The threads sewing her nun's habit together had cleanly come apart, turning it all into mere pieces of cloth.

The hat-like, one-piece hood must have been an isolated item, because it alone remained. Having only her head covered made it seem all the more painful.

The girl froze, still with her hands on her hips and her small chest puffed out in pride.

To sum it up, she was completely nude.

"…Such misfortune."

* * *

Apparently, the girl naming herself Index had a habit of biting people when angered.

"Oww… You bit me all over. What are you, a camp mosquito?"

"…"

He received no response.

Index was naked and wrapped in a blanket. She sat with her legs bent back to the sides while attempting, futilely, to return her clothes to their original form by applying safety pins into the pieces of the nun's habit.

The sound effect 'dohhn' seemed to dominate the room.

It was not that a new Stand user had attacked.

"…Um, princess? This may be presumptuous of me, but I have a button-down shirt and pants you can wear."

"…"

She stared at him with snake-like eyes.

"…Um, princess?"

'_What kind of character is this she's playing?' _He worriedly thought.

"…What?" she replied when he called out once more.

"I was completely the one at fault there."

The only response he received was an alarm clock flying at him.

"Ee!" Kamijou shrieked just as a giant pillow was thrown as well.

To make matters ever more ridiculous, a video game system and small radio came his way as well.

"How can you talk to me so normally after something like that!?"

"Ahh, no! It was quite the life-changing event for this old man as well. But that's youth for you!"

"You're making fun of me… Uuuuuuuuhhhhhh!"

"Okay... I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Don't bite that rented video like a handkerchief, you idiot!"

Kamijou Touma bowed down to the ground with both his hands straight forward like it was a part of some kind of joke.

Deep down, Kamijou felt like a grip was crushing his heart after having seen a girl naked for the first time.

However, Kamijou Touma was not the type to show it.

…Or so he had thought, but he would have been quite surprised at what he saw had he looked in a mirror.

"Finished."

While triumphantly blowing air from her nose, Index spread out the pure white nun's habit that had somehow regained its original form from that hellish do-it-yourself job.

Dozens of safety pins glittered across the nun's habit.

"…" Sweat.

"Um, are you going to wear that?"

"…" Silence.

"You're going to wear that iron maiden?"

"…" Tears.

"In Japanese, we call it a bed of needles."

"…Uuuuuuhhhhhh!"

"I get it!" Kamijou apologized as he head-butted the floor with all his might.

Meanwhile, Index stared at him like a bullied child and was about to bite through the television's power cord. Was she a naughty cat?

"I'll wear it! I'm a nun!"

Though Kamijou was unsure whether that made sense or not, Index began to change by squirming inside the blanket wrapped around her, much like a caterpillar. Her head was the only thing visible and was as red as a bomb.

"Ahh, this reminds me of when we had to change at school for swimming."

"…Why are you looking at me? At least look the other way."

"What does it matter? Compared to what happened before, just changing isn't all that arousing."

"… … …"

Index suddenly stopped moving, but since Kamijou did not seem to notice, she gave up and started once more inside the blanket. She was so focused on what was going on inside that she did not notice when her hood-like hat slipped off of her head.

The room took an awkward atmosphere like the inside of a silent elevator.

Kamijou's mind began to flee from reality, but the term "supplementary lessons" floated in.

"Wah! That's right! I have supplementary lessons!" Kamijou glanced at the clock on his cell phone. "Um… I have to go to school, what are you going to do? If you're going to stay here, I can give you a key."

The option of simply kicking her out had disappeared from his mind. Since Index's nun habit, the Walking Church, had reacted to Imagine Breaker, she clearly had some connection to the supernatural. That meant that not everything she had been telling him was a lie.

It was possible that she had really fallen from the roof because she was chased by magicians. It was possible that she really would have to continue playing a deadly game of tag.

It was possible that wizards from a picture book or something similarly crazy really were running amok in that city of science where established theories of espers and psychics existed.

And, even if those were false, he did not want to just abandon Index.

"…That's okay. I'll leave."

However, Index stood straight up and made a dramatic announcement. She then slipped past Kamijou's side like a ghost and showed no sign of noticing that her hood fell. But, if he tried to pick it up, it would likely fall to pieces.

"U-umm…"

"Hm? No, it's not that." Index turned around. "If I stay, they'll likely come here. You don't want your room blown up, do you?"

That smoothly delivered response left him speechless.

As Index slowly exited the front door, Kamijou frantically ran after her. He wanted to do something, so he checked his wallet and found he had only 320 yen left. He ran after Index to give her what little he had, but his small toe struck the door frame at the speed of sound as he tried to exit the front door.

"Bh… myah! Myaahhh!"

As Kamijou held his foot and let out that strange cry, Index turned around in shock. As Kamijou writhed around in great pain, his cell phone fell from his pocket. The moment he realized it, the LCD screen struck the hard floor and he heard the crack of a fatal blow.

"Uuuuhhhh! S-such misfortune."

"I'd say that was clumsiness, not misfortune," said Index with a slight smile. "But if this Imagine Breaker is real, it may be inevitable."

"…What do you mean?"

"This is related to the world of magic, so I doubt you'll believe me," said Index with a giggle. "But if the divine protection of God and the red string of fate actually exist, then wouldn't your right hand negate all of those?" Index shook her safety pin-covered nun's habit and added, "The power of this Walking Church was a blessing of God after all."

"Wait. What we call fortune and misfortune are just matters of probability and statistics. What you're talking about is completely—…!"

As he said that, Kamijou's finger touched the doorknob and was shocked by static electricity.

"Wha-!?" he cried out as his body twitched reflexively.

The odd way his muscles moved caused a cramp in his right calf.

"…!"

The agony left him incapacitated for about 600 seconds.

"…Um, sister?"

"Yes?"

"…Please explain."

"There isn't much to explain," said Index as if it were obvious. "If what you said about your right hand is true, then merely having it is enough to be continually negating the power of fortune."

"…Do you mean what I think you mean?"

"Just by touching the air, your right hand is giving you more and more misfortune ."

"Gyaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh! S-such misfortuuuuuuuunnnneeeee!" Kamijou did not believe in the occult, but things that were misfortune related matters were different. At any rate, Kamijou was the type of person for whom any venture he took never ended well. It was to the point that he felt that the entire universe conspired against him.

Meanwhile, a pure white nun gazed upon him with the smile of Virgin Mary. In her eyes was what people called an inviting look.

"Wouldn't the real misfortune be having been born with that power ?" The smiling nun brought tears to Kamijou's eyes and he finally realized the conversation had gotten off track.

"W-wait, that's not it! Do you have somewhere to go once you leave? I don't know what situation you're in, but you can hide here if those magicians or whatever are nearby."

"If I stay here, the enemies will come."

"How can you be sure? If you just stay in my room and don't draw any attention to yourself, there shouldn't be a problem."

"That's not true." Index pinched at the chest of her clothes. "This Walking Church functions using magical power. The church seems to call it 'divine power', but it's the same mana. Simply put, the enemy seems to be searching for the magic power in the Walking Church."

"Why do you wear tracking device clothes!?"

"I told you, its defensive power is Pope-class, remember? You're right hand tore it to pieces, though."

"…"

"You tore it to pieces, though."

"I said I was sorry, so don't look so tearfully. …But, Imagine Breaker destroyed that Walking Church, right? So shouldn't the tracking device-like functionality be gone too?"

"Even if it were, they'll know the Walking Church was destroyed. As I said before, its defensive power is Pope-class. Simply put, it's like a fortress. If I were the enemy, I would make an appearance when that fortress was destroyed whatever the reason might be."

"Wait a second. That's all the more reason I can't just let you go. I still don't believe in the occult, but if someone's after you, I can't let you just leave." Index stared at him blankly. With just that look, she truly, truly seemed like nothing more than a normal girl.

"…Then, will you follow me to the depths of hell?"

She smiled a heartbreaking smile that left Kamijou speechless for an instant. Then he smiled.

A sad smile full tragic memories.

"I've already there."

Index could only stare at the boy in front of her whose eyes looked older and more tired than any teen his age should. The eyes of a soldier.

"Don't worry. I'm not alone. If I can escape to the church, they will shelter me." Index said trying to keep from any more harm that he had already gone through.

"…Hmm. So where is this church?"

"In London."

"That's a long ways away! How far are you planning to run!?"

"Hm? Oh, don't worry. I think there are a few branches in Japan," She replied as her nun's habit, which looked like the result of a bullied wife, fluttered.

"A church, hm? There might be one in the city."

The term "church" brought to mind a giant wedding hall, but the examples in Japan were pretty shabby. First of all, the culture had little to do with Christianity. Also, a country with frequent earthquakes lacked historical buildings. The churches that Kamijou had seen out of train windows had all been small prefabricated buildings with crosses on top. He had a feeling he was mistaken to think that those were nouveau riche churches, though.

"Oh, but it can't just be any church. It has to be the British rendition I belong to."

"?"

"Um, there are many kinds of Christianity," said Index with a bitter smile. "First, there is the distinction between the old style Catholics and the new style Protestants. Also, while I belong to the Catholics, there are various versions of them as well. For example: the Roman Catholic Church centered in the Vatican, the Russian Orthodox Church with its headquarters in Russia, and the Anglican Church with its core at St. George's Cathedral."

"…What happens if you accidentally go to the wrong church?"

"They would turn me away," said Index with the same bitter smile. "The Russian Orthodox Church and the Anglican Church primarily exist within their respective countries. Anglican churches are rare in Japan."

"…"

Things were looking gloomy.

Was it possible Index had tried going to church after church before she collapsed from hunger? How had she felt as she fled and fled while being turned away at each church she went to?

"Don't worry. I just have to keep at it until I find a British church."

"…"

For just an instant, Kamijou thought about the power in his right hand.

"Hey! …If you're ever in any trouble, you can stop by here again."

That was all he could say at the face of her conviction to try and keep him safe. He could understand the wish to keep others safe even if it was at the expense of himself. If he tried to say anything to disuade her, it could just make him an hypocrite.

"Sure. I'll stop by if I'm hungry."

Her sunflower-like smile was so perfect that Kamijou could say nothing in response.

Then, a cleaning robot passed by, having gone out of its way to avoid Index.

"Hyah!?"

That perfect smile was blown away in an instant. Index jumped as if she had a cramp in her leg and then tripped backwards. With a horrible sounding thud, her head struck the wall behind her.

"! S-some weird thing just showed up like it's nothing!"

Index had tears in her eyes, but completely forgot to even hold the back of her head as she shouted out.

"Don't point at it and call it weird. It's just a cleaning robot."

Kamijou sighed.

Its size and shape were similar to a drum container (large trashcan). It had small tires on the bottom and a circular rotating mop similar to those on a street cleaner. It had cameras in order to avoid people and other obstacles. They were quite hated by girls in miniskirts.

"…I see. I had heard Japan was a leading nation in technology, but I didn't know you had made mechanized Agathions."

"Hello?" Kamijou was a bit frightened by how impressed Index seemed. "This is Academy City. You can find those things all over the city."

"Academy City?"

"Yes. It's a city made by buying up the entire western area of Tokyo where development had slowed. The name comes from how it has dozens of universities and hundreds of elementary, middle, and high schools in it." Kamijou sighed. "Eighty percent of the residents are students; all the apartment buildings you see are dorms."

He omitted the fact that it had a hidden face where powers and bodies were developed alongside the studying. Or to mention its darker face.

"That's why this city is a bit odd. The city is overflowing with university experiments like the automated disposal of kitchen waste, the wind turbines that function well enough to be practical, and the cleaning robots like this one. Thanks to all that, our level of technological culture is about 20 years ahead of anywhere else."

"Hmm." Index carefully examined the cleaning robot. "So are all the buildings here part of Academy City?"

"Yup. I guess it might be best to leave the city if you're looking for an Anglican church. All the churches here are probably teaching institutions for theology or Jungian psychology."

"Hm."

Index nodded and then finally brought a hand up to the back of her head where she had hit the wall.

"Hyah!? H-huh? My hood is gone!?"

"Oh, you finally noticed? It fell off earlier."

"Hyah?"

By "earlier", Kamijou had meant when she was changing in the blanket, but Index seemed to mistake it for when she had tripped backwards in shock because of the cleaning robot. She started looking around on the floor and a question mark appeared over her head.

"Oh, I know! That electric Agathion!" Still mistaken, she made a dash after the cleaning robot and disappeared around a corner of the hallway.

"…Ahh, what's going on?"

Kamijou looked past the door to his room where Index's hood was and then down the passageway. Index was nowhere to be seen. There had been no farewell, tearful or otherwise.

'_From the looks of her, I get the feeling she'll live on even if the world is destroyed'_, he analyzed.

But…

"Shirou." Touma called at his friend who he knew was hiding in the shadows.

"Don't worry; I'll keep an eye on her." Shirou said as he walked out of his hiding place to stand beside him. He lifted his hand and opened to reveal an origami crane. He gently blew at his creation and it took flight intend on following that young nun. "If anything happens to her, you'll be the first to know."

Touma just nodded in thanks.

Just because he could understand her wish to keep him safe, it didn't need to mean he was going to let her endure it alone.

* * *

"Okay, I have a handout for you. Follow along while we go through this supplementary lesson."

Even after spending an entire term in that class, Kamijou still could not believe it.

The homeroom teacher of Year 1 Class 7, Tsukuyomi Komoe, was a ridiculous teacher who was so short that only her head could be seen when she stood behind her desk.

That little girl teacher was one of the school's seven mysteries: at 135 cm tall, there was a legend saying she was refused a roller coaster ride due to safety concerns and looked to the world like a 12 year old who should be carrying a soprano recorder with a yellow hard hat and a red elementary school backpack.

"I won't stop you from talking amongst yourselves, but you need to listen to what I say. I put a lot of effort into making a quiz, so if you do poorly on it, you will be punished with the See Through lesson."

"The "see through" one? Is that the one where you play poker blindfolded?" said his blond, sunglasses wearing neighbor and backstabbing friend Tsuchimikado Motoharu who was seating behind him.

"She won't let you go home until you win ten games in a row at that…" said the blue-haired, ear-pierced, male class representative Aogami Pierce who was sitting next to Kamijou.

"Damn, we were forced to stay behind all night last time…" said the lazy and unmotivated brown eyed, brown haired student Hakuno Kishinami.

"Oh, but Kamijou-chan, you don't have enough development credits, so you'll be doing the See Through lesson regardless."

"Ugh," Kamijou was at a loss of words when faced with the salesman smile of a salaryman teacher.

"…Mhh. I see. Komoe-chan finds you so cute she just can't help herself, Kami-yan," said Aogami Pierce.

"…Do you sense malice coming from that teacher's back as she enjoyably stretches up to reach the blackboard?"

"What? What's wrong with having such a cute teacher scold you for failing a quiz? Getting physically abused by a little kid like that gets you a ton of experience points, Kami-yan."

"I knew you were a lolicon, but you're a masochist, too!? You really are hopeless!"

"Ah hah! It's not that I like lolis! It's that I also like lolis!"

Kamijou almost shouted out "You're omnivorous!?", but he was interrupted.

"You two over there! If you say a single word more, you'll be stuck with Columbus's Egg."

Just as one would expect, Columbus's Egg involved standing a raw egg upside down on a desk without anything supporting it. Those specializing in Psychokinesis could keep the egg from falling when they worked to the point of the blood vessels in their brain almost bursting. (It was actually an extremely difficult challenge because the egg would break if the Psychokinesis was too powerful.) As with the previous example, you would be stuck there until morning if you could not do it.

Kamijou and Aogami Pierce stared at Tsukuyomi Komoe while forgetting to breathe. Tsuchimikado Motoharu and Hakuno Kishinami only smirked at their plight.

"Okay?"

Her smile was quite frightening.

While Komoe-sensei loved being called "cute", she became incredibly irate when called "small".

However, she did not seem to mind being looked down on by the students. Part of it was just something inevitable within Academy City. The city was a veritable Neverland where over 80% of the population was students. The opposition to salaryman teachers was harsh even compared to a normal school, and more importantly, the "strength" of a student was based on both their academic ability and their power.

The teachers were the ones that developed the students, but the teachers themselves had no powers. Some, like the PE teachers and guidance counselors, seemed like they were from foreign units because they trained Level 3 monsters with their own fists. However, it would be cruel to expect that from a chemistry teacher like Komoe.

"…Hey, Kami-yan."

"What?"

"Would it turn you on to get lectured by Komoe-sensei?"

"I'm not you! Just shut up already, idiot! If we have to play with a raw egg even though we don't have Psychokinesis, we'll be spending our entire summer break here! If you get it, shut that fake Kansai dialect mouth of yours!"

"Fake… D-D-D-D-D-Don't call it fake! I'm really from Osaka!"

"Shut up. I know you're from a rice region. I'm in a bad mood, so don't make me play the straight man right now."

"I-I-I'm not from a rice region! Ah. A-ahhh! I sure do love takoyaki."

"Stop trying to force yourself into the Kansai role! Are you going to bring takoyaki for lunch just to fill this role?"

"What are you talking about? It's not like someone from Osaka eats only takoyaki, right?"

"…"

"Right? I think that's right… no, wait. But… but yeah… but, huh? Which is it?"

"You're falling out of character, Mr. Fake Kansai," said Kamijou before sighing and looking out the window.

He felt like he should be by Index's side rather than dealing with that pointless supplementary lesson.

The Walking Church nun's habit she wore had indeed reacted to Kamijou's right hand, although, "reacted" was perhaps an understatement. But, that did not mean he had to believe. Most likely, the majority of what Index had said was a lie, and even if it were not, she may have just mistaken some natural phenomenon as the occult.

Even so…

'_I guess the fish that gets away always seems huge'_, he pondered.

Kamijou sighed again. If the alternative was being stuck at a desk in that sauna-like classroom with no air conditioning, charging into a fantasy of swords and magic may have been better. And he even had a cute, though difficult to say beautiful, heroine to go with it.

"…"

Kamijou recalled the hood Index had forgotten in his room.

In the end, he had not returned it. _He did not see it as having been unable to return it_. Even if Index had disappeared, he would likely have found her with Shirou's strange charm, but in the end he had not done it.

Because, that white girl had shown him such a perfect smile…

He felt like she would disappear like an illusion if he did not leave some kind of connection.

He was afraid.

'…_Oh, so that's it'_, he concluded.

After going through those somewhat poetic thoughts, Kamijou finally realized something. When it came down to it, he did not hate the girl who was caught on his balcony. He had liked her enough that the thought of never seeing her again left him with a slight twinge of regret.

"…Ah, damn it."

He clicked his tongue. With how heavily she weighed on his mind, he wished he had stopped her from leaving.

Come to think of it, what was it with those 103,000 grimoires that she mentioned?

Index had said that the group, a magic cabal (something like a corporation?), after her seemed to be pursuing her because they wanted those 103,000 grimoires. And apparently, Index had been fleeing with those 103,000 grimoires in her possession.

It was neither a key nor a map to the place where all those books were stored.

When Kamijou had asked where all those books were, she had simply said, "Right here." However, as far as Kamijou could see, she owned not a single book. Even if she did, Kamijou's room was not large enough to house 100,000 books.

"_I think she meant the contents not the actual books."_

For some reason, Shirou's wordand the mention of those 103,000 grimories made his memory itch.

"…What was that all about?"

Kamijou tilted his head to the side in puzzlement. Since Index's Walking Church had reacted to Imagine Breaker, her words were not complete delusion. However…

"Sensei? Kamijou-kun's staring out the window to look at the girls' tennis team's fluttery skirts."

Aogami Pierce's forced Kansai dialect sent Kamijou's focus in an about-face to the classroom.

"…"

Komoe-sensei fell silent.

She had seemed to go through shock because 'that' Kamijou Touma-kun had not been focused on the lesson. She had the look of a 12 year old who had just found out the truth about Santa Claus.

Just as that thought reached his mind, Kamijou Touma was pierced by the hostile gazes of his classmates who wished to protect the human rights of that "child".

* * *

"It is now the latest one can stay after school. All students should head home right away." An electronic female voice announced.

While it was called a supplementary lesson, they had been stuck there until the time when all students were supposed to have left school.

"…Such misfortune," Kamijou muttered as he gazed at a wind turbine's three propellers glittering in the sunset.

"At least you didn't had to endure Shizuo-sensei's special training." Shirou said as he carried the unconscious body of their brown-haired female friend, Hikari Kishinami,sister of Hakuno Kishinami. "This time it was pretty rough. Hikari fainted halfway through and she hasn't woken up yet."

It was well known among the student body of A Certain High School just how sadistic their principal and all-around substitute teacher, Shizuo Kira, could be. Specially students like Kamijou Touma and Emiya Shirou. Even though all the teachers lacked supernatural powers, it was rumored that the principal could fight toe-to-toe against the Number 7.

"Well, I better go drop her before curfew." Shirou said as he walked away with his unconscious friend in his arms, getting weird stares from the people around him

Any kind of nightlife was forbidden, so the last bus and train in Academy City were set to leave once the students were out of school.

Kamijou missed the last bus, so he was trudging along through the scorching shopping district that seemed to go on forever. A security robot passed by him as he did. It was also a drum on wheels and it functioned as something like a walking security camera. They were originally improved versions of robotic dogs, but children would gather around them and block their way. For that simple reason, the work robots were converted into drum container shapes.

"Ah, there you are, you bastard! Wait up… wait! You! I'm talking to you! Stop!"

The summer heat had done Kamijou in and he just stared at the slowly moving security robot. He thought about how

Index had run off after a cleaning robot and, finally, realized that a voice was calling him.

He turned around to figure out what was going on.

She was a middle school-aged girl with shoulder-length brown hair that glowed a flame-red in the sunset but her face was dyed even redder. She wore a gray pleated skirt, a short sleeve blouse, and a summer sweater… At that point, he suddenly realized who she was.

"…Oh, it's you again, Biri Biri Middle Schooler."

"Don't call me Biri Biri! I have a name! It's Misaka Mikoto! Why don't you learn it already!? You've been calling me Biri Biri since we first met!"

'_Since we first met…?'_ Kamijou thought back. _'Oh, right.'_

When they first met, she was surrounded by delinquents just like the other day. As the children approached her, he had thought that they were after her wallet and stepped forward in an Urashima Tarou-esque move.

However, for some reason, the girl was the one that became irritated, saying, "Shut up! Don't get in the way of other people's fights! Biri Biri!" Kamijou had of course blocked her Biri Biri with his right hand and she had responded with, "Huh? Why didn't that work? Then what about this? Huh?" One thing had led to another, and things had ended up in their current relationship.

"…Huh? What? I'm not sad, so why am I crying, mom?"

"What's with the distant look in your eyes?"

Kamijou was exhausted from the supplementary lesson and he decided not to give much thought in how to deal with the Biri Biri girl.

"The girl staring at Kamijou's face with a stunned expression is the Railgun girl from yesterday. She's so frustrated over losing a single fight that she has come back to Kamijou again and again to challenge him to rematches."

"…Who's that explanation for?"

"She's strong-willed and hates to lose, but is actually quite a lonely person and is in charge of taking care of the class pet."

"Don't tack strange things to the setting!"

The girl, Misaka Mikoto, flailed her arms around and all focus on the street was drawn to her. It was not all that surprising, the completely normal summer uniform she wore was the uniform of Tokiwadai Middle School, one of the 5 most prestigious and elite schools in Academy City. For some reason, the explosively refined girls from Tokiwadai seemed to stand apart even in a station at rush hour, and it would strike one as odd for anyone to see one sitting on the floor of a train messing around with their cell phone like any other person.

"So what do you want, Biri Biri? Actually, why are you wearing your uniform during summer break? Do you have supplementary lessons?"

"Gh… Sh-Shut up."

"Were you worried about the class bunny?"

"I told you to stop with the animal stuff! Also, today I'm going to make you twitch like frog legs with electrodes attached! So, get your will and inheritance in order!"

"I don't think so."

"Why not!?"

"Because, I'm not in charge of my class' pet."

"Why you… Quit making fun of me!"

The middle school girl stomped down on the tiles of the path.

At that exact moment, a tremendous noise came from the cell phones of the people walking along the area. Additionally, the cable broadcast in the shopping district cut out and a horrible noise came from the security robot.

The crackling sound of static electricity came from the middle school girl's hair. That Level 5 girl, who used Railgun with nothing but her own body, smiled such that her canines were bared like a beast's.

"Hmph. How was that? Did that change your cowardly mind? …Mgh!"

In a frantic attempt to cover her mouth, Kamijou's hand covered Misaka Mikoto's entire composed face. "Sh-Shut up." he whispered nearly inaudibly. "Please just shut your mouth! Everyone's cell phones were fried and they're looking none too pleased! If they find out it was us, they'll make us pay, and I have no idea how much that cable broadcast costs!"

Due to his recent encounter with that silver-haired nun girl, Kamijou prayed with all his might to the God whom Kamijou normally only thought of around Christmas.

His prayers must have made their way to heaven, because no one approached Kamijou and Mikoto.

Thank goodness, he said with lessening apprehension.

Kamijou gave a sigh of relief… as he continued to suffocate Mikoto.

"Message, message. Error No. 100231-YF. Offensive electromagnetic waves in violation of radio laws detected. System malfunction detected. As this is possible cyber terrorism, avoid using electronics."

Imagine Breaker and Railgun hesitantly turned around.

A drum container was on its side on the footpath spewing smoke as it spoke to itself nonsensically.

In the next instant, the security robot began sounding a high-pitched alarm.

Naturally, they ran away.

They entered a back alley, kicked over a dirty plastic bucket, and scared off a black cat as they continued running.

'_Come to think of it, I didn't do anything wrong'_, he unhappily thought. _'Why am I running away with her?'_

Even while thinking that, he kept running. After all, he had heard on a talk show that those security robots cost 1.2 million yen each (approx. $15000).

"Uuhh… S-Such misfortune. Why do I always get caught up in things related to _her_?"

"What do you mean by that!? And, my name is Misaka Mikoto!"

The two finally come to a stop in a back, back, back alley. One of the lined-up buildings must have been demolished because a rectangular area opened up there. It seemed a good place for street basketball.

"Shut up, Biri Biri! You're the one that destroyed all of my electronics with that lightning yesterday! What could you possibly want after that!?"

"It's your fault for pissing me off!"

"I don't even understand what's got you so mad! I've haven't laid a finger on you!"

Following that exchange, Mikoto attacked Kamijou with her full arsenal, but Kamijou negated the whole with his right hand. This time, her attacks did not end with Railgun. Her offenses ranged from twisting together collected iron sand to create a whip-like sword of steel, to sending powerful electromagnetic waves to mess with internal organs, to even finishing with a blast of real lightning from the sky.

But, none were a match for Kamijou Touma.

As long as it was supernatural, Kamijou Touma could negate it.

"You just keep coming at me and wearing yourself out! Don't use your powers too much and then blame me when you don't have the stamina to keep going, Biri Biri!"

"!" Mikoto began to grind her back teeth. "Th-That didn't count. It can't count! You never attacked me so it's a draw!"

"Sigh… Fine, fine. It's your win. Punching you isn't going to fix my air conditioner."

"Gah…! W-Wait a second! Take this seriously!" shouted Mikoto as she flailed her arm.

Kamijou sighed.

"_Are you sure you want me to take this seriously_?"

"Ah…" Mikoto trailed off.

Kamijou lightly clenched his right fist and opened it again. A cold sweat began to pour from Misaka Mikoto's entire body with his simple actions. She froze in place, unable to even take a step backwards.

Mikoto did not know what Kamijou's power truly was, so to her, Kamijou was truly an unknown horror that sealed all of her trumps without breaking a sweat.

It was unsurprising. Kamijou Touma challenged Misaka Mikoto's attacks for over two hours straight without receiving a scratch. It was only natural for her to wonder what would happen if he were serious.

Kamijou sighed and averted his gaze.

As if the strings holding her in place had snapped, Mikoto finally staggered a few steps back.

"…What can I call this other than misfortune?" Kamijou was shocked at how frightened she was. "First my room's electronics were done in, then a self-proclaimed magician in the morning, and now this Biri Biri esper in the evening."

"Magician…? What?"

"…" Kamijou thought for a moment. "Yeah… That's what I want to know."

Normally, Mikoto would have likely shouted, "Are you making fun of me!? Is your head as messed up as that power!?" and then Biri Biri'd. However, she could only jump in fright that day whenever he gave her a look.

It was only a bluff to fool her, but the effectiveness caused him regret.

'_What was all that magician nonsense, anyway?'_ Kamijou wondered.

Kamijou was reminded of what had happened that morning. The white nun had used the word readily enough, but now that he thought back, the term was definitely one removed from reality.

'_I wonder why it didn't feel out place with Index around'_, he considered.

Had there been some mysterious something that made magic seem more believable?

"...Wait, has my life turned strange enough that I'm accepting something as ridiculous as magic so readilly?" muttered Kamijou while completely ignoring the Biri Biri girl named Misaka Mikoto who was fearfully trembling like a puppy.

* * *

Those days, one could not buy even a large gyuudon with only 320 yen.

"… … …Regular, hm?"

The girls who happily ate a bento the size of a light novel would likely not understand, but a sweating, growing boy saw the regular size as nothing more than a snack.

After driving off the Biri Biri girl, Kamijou went to a gyuudon restaurant to eat his "snack". With only 30 yen remaining (tax included), he walked towards his dormitory, praying he wouldn't find more misfortune on his way there.

"Now that I think about it, every time Shirou runs away I always end up meeting Biri Biri." Touma mused aloud as he approached the building. "Wait, if I remember right an electromaster's body is always surrounded by an electromagnetic aura and with Shirou's body… Bastard! He could at least warn me before running away!"

Touma was distracted from further thoughts of his traitorous friend when something hit his head.

"Ow! What the hell!" Touma yelled in surprise and pain as he held his forehead. He looked at what had apparently decided to use his head as target practice only to blink in surprise.

It was Shirou's paper origami. And it was painted red.

"Shit!" Touma yelled as he realized what that meant. He quickly ran after the charm as it made its way towards the Dormitories and up the stairs. Once they reached the seventh floor, however, he froze once a certain smell hit his nose.

It was a smell he knew well thanks to his misfortune.

It was the smell of blood.

He quickly ran towards where a group cleaning bots had gathered and from where he could tell the smell was coming from. The sight made him gasp.

Surrounded by the cleaning bots was Index, lying in a pool of her own blood unconscious.

"Damn it, move!" Touma said as he tried to move the cleaning bots. However they refuse move as they continued to try to suck the pool of blood. "I said **move!**"

Finally losing his patience he picked one of the bots and used it to smash over the other two before throwing down the hall.

During all that, Index said nothing. She did not even twitch.

Her pale purple lips were so still he was unsure whether she was breathing.

"Shit, shit!" Kamijou shouted out in confusion. "What happened? What the hell happened!? God damn it! Who the hell did this to you!?"

"Hm? That would be us magicians."

A voice sounded from behind him, one that did not belong to Index.

Kamijou spun his entire body around as if meaning to rush in and punch the person. A man was standing there who had come from the… no, not from the elevator. It seemed he arrived from the emergency staircase next to the elevator.

The white man was over two meters tall, but his face seemed younger than Kamijou's.

His age was… likely 14 or 15, similar to Index's age. His great height was characteristic of foreigners, while his clothes were… a pure black version of the habits worn by church priests. However, it was unlikely you would find anyone who would call that man a priest even if you searched all over the world.

It may have been because he was standing upwind, but Kamijou could smell the horribly sweet perfume on him even though he was over 15 meters away. His shoulder-length blond hair had been dyed red like the sunset, silver rings glittered on all ten of his fingers like brass knuckles, poisonous earrings hung on his ears, a cell phone strap could be seen sticking out of his pocket, a lit cigarette moved at the edge of his mouth, and, as if to complete the image, he had a barcode-like tattoo underneath his right eye.

One could not call him a priest and yet, neither a delinquent.

In the passageway, the air around the man was clearly strange.

It was as if the area were being ruled by completely different rules than the ones that Kamijou had been accustomed to at that point. That strange feeling spread throughout the area like icy tentacles.

What Kamijou felt first was neither fear nor anger…

…But confusion and unease. It was a desperate loneliness akin to have a wallet stolen in a foreign country with an unfamiliar language. The icy, tentacle-like feeling crept into his body and froze his heart. It was then that Kamijou realized something:

_This is a magician._

_This has become a different world where strange things like magicians exist._

He could tell at first glance.

He still did not believe in magicians…

But, he could tell that this was definitely a resident of a place that existed beyond the world he lived.

"Hm? Hm… hm… hm. She got her pretty good." The magician looked around and the cigarette in the corner of his mouth waggled as he spoke. "I heard Kanzaki sliced her, but this is… I thought there wasn't anything to worry about because there was no blood trail…"

The magician looked at the cleaning robots gathered behind Kamijou Touma.

Most likely, Index had been "sliced" elsewhere and had barely escaped there with her life before collapsing. She surely had left fresh blood as she went, but the cleaning robots had cleaned it all away.

"But… why?"

"Hm? You mean why she came back here? Who knows? Maybe she forgot something. Come to think of it, she had her hood when I shot her yesterday. Did she lose it somewhere?"

The magician standing in front of Kamijou had used the phrase "came back".

In other words, he had been following Index's actions all day. And he knew that she had lost the hood to her Walking Church nun's habit.

Index had said something about the magicians searching for the magic power of her Walking Church.

That meant the magicians had been following Index by detecting the supernatural power in her Walking Church. They would have known the Walking Church was destroyed when the "signal" cut out… Index had mentioned that too.

But then, Index had to have known.

She had known, but she still seemed to have relied on the defensive powers of the Walking Church.

But why did she return? Why did she need to recover a portion of the destroyed and therefore useless Walking Church? Kamijou's right hand had rendered the entire Walking Church useless so there was little point in recovering the hood.

"…_Then will you follow me to the depths of hell?"_

Suddenly, it all clicked.

Kamijou remembered; he had never touched the hood of the Walking Church that was left in his room. In other words, the hood still had magic power. She must have thought the magicians might detect it and headed there to retrieve it.

And so, Index had braved the danger and "came back".

"…You idiot."

There had been no need to do that. It was Kamijou's clumsiness that had destroyed her Walking Church, and he had realized she had left her hood in his room yet left it there. And more importantly, Index lacked any obligation, duty, or right to protect Kamijou.

Even so, she could not help heading back.

Kamijou Touma was a complete stranger that she had met less than half an hour before.

She could not help but risk her life and return to prevent him from getting involved in a magician's fight.

"You idiot!"

Index's unmoving back irritated him for some odd reason.

Before, Index had told Kamijou that his misfortune was due to his right hand.

Apparently, his right hand was subconsciously negating even the faint supernatural powers that were things like the divine protection of God and the red string of fate.

Also, had Kamijou not carelessly touched her and destroyed her Walking Church nun's habit, there would have been no need to return.

'_No. Those kinds of excuses don't matter'_, he considered

His right hand and the destruction of her Walking Church were not the reason she had felt the need to return.

Had Kamijou not wished for that one connection… Had he only returned her fallen hood that instant…

"Hm? Hm… hm… hm? C'mon, I can't have you looking at me like that." The cigarette in the corner of the magician's mouth moved as he spoke. "It wasn't me that sliced her and I doubt Kanzaki meant to turn this into something bloody. The Walking Church is supposed to be an absolute defense, after all. Really, she shouldn't have been injured at all by that. …Honestly, what twist of fate led that to be destroyed? Unless St. George's Dragon has come again, I don't see how a Pope-class barrier could be broken."

That last bit was spoken to his self and his smile disappeared as he said it.

However, this lasted only an instant. The cigarette in the corner of his mouth twitched back up as if he had suddenly remembered to smile.

"Why?" Kamijou asked despite not expecting an answer. "Why? I don't believe in the magic from fairy tales and I don't really understand magicians or whatever you are. But aren't there good and evil types of you? Aren't there magicians that protect things and people?"

He knew very well that he had no right to be moralistic.

When Index had left, Kamijou Touma had let her go and returned to his normal life.

Yet he could not resist saying the words.

"You ganged up on this little girl, chased her all over the place, and then injured her this badly. Can you really say that you're justice with this reality staring you in the face!?"

"Like I said, Kanzaki did this, not me." The magician paused for a second. Kamijou's words had not hit home with him in the slightest. "And whether she's injured or not, we have to retrieve her."

"Retrieve her?"

Kamijou did not understand what the magician meant.

"Hm? Oh, I see. You knew the word magician, so I assumed you were completely filled-in. I guess she was afraid of getting you involved." The magician exhaled cigarette smoke. "Yeah, we need to retrieve her. Technically, it isn't her we need to retrieve though; it's the 103,000 grimoires she has."

…There were those 103,000 grimoires again.

"I see, I see. This country isn't very religious, so I guess you don't understand," said the magician in a bored sounding voice despite the fact that he was smiling. "The Index Librorum Prohibitorum is a list created by the church of all the evil books that will sully your soul just by reading them. Even if you were to announce that these dangerous books existed, people could still unknowingly acquire one, despite the fact that they don't know its title. Thus, she has become something of a crucible of poisonous books with 103,000 such books. Oh, but be careful. Reading just one of the books she has would make a vegetable out of someone from an irreligious nation like this."

Disregarding his words, Index owned not a single book. The lines of her body were clearly visible in that habit and would be obvious if she were to hide any books under her clothes. No need to even mention that not a single person could walk around carrying 100,000 texts, an entire library's worth of books.

"D-Don't be ridiculous! Just where exactly are these books!?"

"Oh, they're there, in her memory," the magician said as if it were obvious fact. "Do you know what perfect memory is? It seems to be the ability to memorize anything you see in an instant and never forget even a single sentence or letter. Simply put, it makes you a human scanner." The magician smiled disinterestedly. "It has nothing to do with our occult or your science fiction. It's a natural condition. She has been to the British Museum, the Louvre, the Vatican Library, the Pataliputra ruins, Château de Compiègne, Mont Saint-Michel Monastery, and everywhere else that has grimoires that cannot be taken from where they are sealed. She stole them with her eyes and stores them as a grimoire library."

He simply could not believe it.

He could not believe that these grimoires existed or that she had a perfect memory.

However, what mattered was not its truth but the fact that someone _believed_ it was true, and it resulted in the slicing of a girl's back.

"Well, she has no ability to refine magic power herself, so she's harmless." The cigarette in the corner of the magician's mouth moved up happily. "But since that stopper was prepared, the church must have some concerns. Well, that has nothing to do with a magician like me. At any rate, those 103,000 grimoires are quite dangerous, so I came to shelter her before _anyone who would use them_ comes to take her away."

"To… shelter her?"

Kamijou Touma was utterly astonished. What had that man just said in the face of such a blood-red scene?

"Yeah, that's right. Shelter her. No matter how sensible and good hearted she may be, she cannot stand up to torture and drugs. The mere thought of handing a girl over to the likes of them hurts my heart, y'know?"

"…"

Kamijou's body trembled.

Not pure anger, Goosebumps covered his arm. The man before him only viewed himself as true; he lived ignoring his own mistakes. The put together sent a chill across Kamijou's entire body like that of plunging into a bathtub filled to the brim with tens of thousands of slugs.

The term "mad cult" oozed into his brain.

The thought of magicians that hunted people based on groundless beliefs made him feel like the nerves of his brain were going to burst.

"Who the hell, do you think you are!?"

His right hand felt engulfed in heat as if responding to his anger.

His two feet that had been planted to the ground shifted before he even thought about moving. His thick body of flesh and blood charged toward the magician like a bullet. He clenched his right fist so hard that he felt like he was smashing his fingers to pieces.

His right hand was of no use. It would not help him defeat even a single delinquent, would not raise his scores on tests, and would not make him popular with girls.

But his right hand could also be quite useful. After all, he could still use it to punch out the bastard standing before him.

"I would prefer to call myself as Stiyl Magnus, but I guess I'll have to go with Fortis931."

The magician was completely motionless expect for the wagging of the cigarette in the corner of his mouth.

After muttering something under his breath, he spoke to Kamijou as if introducing the pet black cat he was proud of.

"That's my magic name. Not familiar with those? It seems we magicians cannot give our true name when we use magic.

It's an old tradition, so I don't really understand why myself."

They were 15 meters apart.

Kamijou Touma filled half of that gap in just three steps.

"Fortis… I guess in Japanese it would mean 'the strong'. Well, the etymology doesn't really matter. What's important is that I have given that name. For us magicians, it is less a magical name when spell casting and more like…"

Even as Kamijou Touma took two more steps down the passageway, the magician's smile did not crumble. He seemed to be claiming that Kamijou was not an opponent even worth ridding his smile over.

"…a name of bloodshed, I guess."

The magician named Stiyl Magnus grabbed the cigarette from his mouth and flicked it away to the side.

The lit cigarette flew horizontally, over the metal railing, and hit the wall of the neighboring building.

An orange line traced the cigarette's path as an afterimage and sparks flew when it hit the wall.

"Kenaz (Flames)."

The instant that Stiyl muttered, the orange line exploded.

A sword of flames appeared in a straight line as if someone had turned on a fire hose loaded with gasoline. The paint gradually changed color like a picture being scorched by a lighter.

He was not in contact with the fire but it still felt like his eyes were being burned just by watching it. Kamijou instinctually stopped running and brought his hands up to cover his face. He stopped so suddenly that it looked like his feet had been staked to the ground.

"Purisaz Naupiz Gebo (A gift of pain for the giant.)"

Past the hands covering his face, Kamijou could see the magician smiling.

While smiling, Stiyl Magnus swung the blazing flame sword horizontally at Kamijou Touma.

The instant it touched him, it lost shape and exploded in all directions like an erupting volcano.

Heat waves, flashes of light, explosive noise, and black smoke burst in every direction.

"Maybe I overdid it."

Stiyl scratched at his head in front of what looked like the aftermath of a bombing. Just to be sure, he looked around to see if anyone was coming out to see what was going on. It was the first day of summer break, so most of the residents of that boy's dorm would be out. However, it would be bad if some friendless shut-in was in one of the rooms.

He could not see ahead directly because of the screen of flames and smoke.

However, he did not need to check. That strike had created hellish flames of 3000 degrees Celsius. At temperatures above 2000 Celsius, the human body would melt before it burned which meant the boy likely looked similar to the metal railing that had melted like a sugar sculpture. It was probable that he was splattered across the dorm wall like a used piece of gum.

Stiyl heaved a sigh as he reflected on how right he had been to get the boy away from Index. Things would have been a bit more difficult if the boy had used Index's injured form as a shield.

But he could not retrieve Index as things were.

Stiyl sighed again. The wall of flames blocked him from heading to the other end of the passageway where Index was. If there was another emergency staircase on the other side of the passageway, he could manage. But, it would hardly be funny had Index been caught in the inferno while he took such a detour.

Stiyl shook his head in annoyance and spoke as he peered into the smoke one last time as if he could see through it.

"Thank you. Excellent work but too bad. Well, at that level, you couldn't win even if you had a thousand tries."

A hand burst from the smoke, grabbed his collar, and pulled him as Touma delivered a devastating head-butt, knocking the magician unconscious and breaking his nose.

"You talk too much."

* * *

**Author's Note: Well, here's the second chapter. Shirou finally make some, although small, contributions to the plot and shows some of his trick. Don't worry; he'll make contribute more as the story goes on.**

**Sorry about ending the fight so soon, but it was to demonstrate the difference between Canon Touma and Fate/Magical Index Touma. In canon he hesitated, and in this story he just pushed right through and used the smoke as a cover to deliver a critical hit. F/MI Touma is physically stronger and more experienced fighter than Canon Touma. But don't worry, he and Styl will get to fight seriously. Eventually.**

**Caboose43: I know its written Shirou or Shirō, but I'm used to writing it like "Shiro". Sorry if it inconvenience you.**


	3. Arc 1:Chapter 2

**Fate/A Certain Magical Index**

Disclaimer: Fate/stay night and the Fate series belongs to Type-Moon and Toaru Majutsu no Index series to Kamachi Kazuma.

* * *

It was night; the sirens of an ambulance and fire trucks rang from the main road and echoed by.

The dorm had seemed mostly abandoned, but the triggering of the fire alarm and the subsequent sprinklers going off had changed matters. In no time at all, the empty dorm was filled with fire trucks and onlookers. Hopefully they would think the unconscious magician was the cause of the fire.

Touma had used his right hand to destroy the tracking function of the hood in his room before taking it with him. Had he left it working and abandoned it in some arbitrary place, he could have fooled the pursuers, but she obstinately insisted that she take it with her.

Kamijou Touma clicked his tongue in a back alley. He held Index's bloody form in his arms as he could not let her wound touch the dirty ground.

He could not hand Index over to an ambulance.

Academy City fundamentally disliked outsiders. That was why walls surrounded the city and three satellites were constantly monitoring all activities. Even the drivers of the trucks that supplied convenience stores needed an exclusive ID to get in.

For that reason, information about an outsider without an ID, like Index, would spread if she were hospitalized.

Not to mention, her enemy was part of some organization.

If she were attacked there, the damage would spread to those around her. Also, she would be defenseless if she were attacked while recovering or in surgery.

"But I can't just leave her like this."

"I'll… be fine. If you… can just stop the bleeding…"

Index's voice was weak. And, that was why Touma immediately knew that what she had said was wrong. Her wound was beyond something an amateur could solve by wrapping bandages. Touma was accustomed to fights, and he performed first aid on himself for most of the wounds best kept secret. But, the wound on her back was bad enough to make even Touma lose his cool.

There remained only one thing that they could rely on.

He still did not believe in it, but he had nothing else left to believe in.

"Hey, hey! Can you hear me?" Touma lightly slapped Index's cheek. "Is there anything that can heal wounds in those 103,000 grimoires of yours?"

Touma's idea of magic was nothing more than the attack magic and recovery magic in RPGs.

It was true that Index had said that she was naturally unable to process magic power by herself and therefore could not use magic; but, Touma could handle supernatural powers, so if Index would just tell him what to do…

Index's breathing was shallow. However, this was more due to blood loss than pain. Her pale lips trembled.

"There is… but…"

Touma's face lit up for an instant until the word "but" belatedly caught in his mind.

"You… can't do it…" Index let out a small breath. "Even if I… taught you the spell… your power would surely… get in the way… ow… even if you perfectly… imitated it."

Touma looked down at his right hand in shock.

Imagine Breaker. The power residing there had indeed completely negated Stiyl's flames. And so there was a chance that it would negate Index's recovery magic the same way.

"Shit! Not again… Why is it always this right hand's fault!?"

That just meant that he needed to call someone such as Emiya Shirou or that Biri Biri girl, Misaka Mikoto. The faces of a few tough people whom he would have no worries about getting involved in this kind of trouble floated up in his mind.

"…?" Index fell silent for a bit. "No… That isn't what I meant."

"?"

"Not your right hand… The problem is… that you're an esper." In that broiling night, she shivered like on a snowy mountain in midwinter. "Magic is not… something to be used by 'talented people' like you espers. 'Untalented people' wanted… to do what the 'talented people' could do… so they created certain spells and rituals… which are known as magic."

Touma was about ready to shout, "This is no time for explanations!"

"You don't get it…? The circuitry is different between 'talented people' and 'untalented people…' 'Talented people' cannot use the systems created… for the 'untalented people…'"

"Wha-…?"

Touma was left speechless. It was true that drugs and electrodes were used on espers like Touma to forcibly expand the circuitry of their brains in a way that made it different from a normal human's. It was true that their bodies were different from others.

But he could not believe it. No, he did not want to believe it.

2.5 million students lived in Academy City and every single one of them had undergone the powers development Curriculum. Even if it were not visibly apparent, even if they could not bend a spoon with efforts so strenuous they burst the blood vessels in their brain, and even if they were the weakest of espers, they were indeed made differently from a normal person.

In other words, the people who lived in that city could not use magic, the one thing that could save the girl.

There was a way to save the person who lay before him, and yet not a single person could.

"Damn it…" Touma bared his canines like a beast. "How could this happen? How could this happen!? What the hell is this!? How is this fair!?"

Index's trembling grew worse.

What Touma found the most difficult to bear was the fact that she received punishment for his own inability.

"'Talented' my ass," he spat out. "I can't even save the girl suffering before my eyes."

However, he could come up with no other solution to the situation. The fact that the 2.5 million students living in the city could not use magic was the rule he needed to break down first.

"…?"

Touma suddenly noticed something off about his thought process.

Students?

"Hey, any normal 'talentless' person can use magic, right?"

"…Eh? Yes."

"And this isn't going to end up being useless because the person has no talent for magic, right?"

"You don't… need to worry about that… As long as they prepare correctly and perform it correctly… even a middle school student should be able to do it." Index thought for a bit. "Although, if they get the steps wrong, the pathways in their brain and their neural circuitry could be fried… But with the knowledge of my 103,000 grimoires, it will be fine. Do not worry."

Touma smiled.

Without thinking, he looked up as if to howl at the moon in the night sky.

It was true that 2.5 million students lived in Academy City and that they had all been developed to have some kind of psychic power.

However, the teachers that developed them were normal humans.

He looked at the paper crane that was perched on his shoulder.

"You know what to do right?" He asked the small thing. The paper crane nodded before taking flight, Touma running after it.

"I hope she isn't already asleep."

The face of a certain teacher appeared in Kamijou Touma's mind.

It was the face of Tsukuyomi Komoe, the 135 centimeter tall homeroom teacher of his class who a red randoseru would suit despite her being a teacher.

* * *

Touma followed the paper crane to Komoe-sensei house, before it left to report to its master, at Touma's insistence.

"This is the place…"

He arrived after 15 minutes of walking from that back alley.

Utterly unbefitting of Komoe-sensei's 12 year old appearance, it was a two story wooden apartment building that looked so old and worn down that Kamijou felt it must have weathered the bombing of Tokyo. Since the washing machine was sitting directly out in the passageway, it must have had nothing like a bath.

Normally, Touma would joke about it for the next 10 minutes, but he did not even smile.

After checking the nameplates on the first floor's doors, he climbed up the run-down and rusty metal staircase and checked the doors there. When he reached the door furthest back on the second floor, he had finally found "Tsukuyomi Komoe" written in hiragana.

Touma rang the doorbell twice and then kicked at the door with all his might.

His foot striking the door made a tremendous noise.

However, the door did not so much as budge. True to form, Touma had the misfortune to think he heard an unpleasant crack come from his big toe.

"~ ~ ~!"

"Yes, yes, yeees! The anti-newspaper salesman door is the only sturdy thing here. I'll open it, okay?"

'_Why didn't I just wait?'_ He reprimanded himself.

As Touma had that teary-eyed thought, the door clicked open and a pajama wearing Komoe-sensei's head poked out through the crack. Her relaxed expression made it clear that she could not see Index's back wound from her position.

"Wah, Kamijou-chan. Did you start working part time as a newspaper salesman?"

"What newspaper has its workers solicit people with a nun on their backs?" remarked Touma with displeasure. "I'm in a bit of trouble, so I'll be coming in. Excuse me."

"W-Wait, wait, wait!" Komoe-sensei frantically tried to block Touma's way as he pushed her aside. "I-I can't have you suddenly coming into my room. And it isn't just because my room is a horrible mess with empty beer cans littering the floor and cigarette butts piled up in the ash tray!"

"Sensei."

"Yes?"

"…See if you can make the same joke after seeing what I'm carrying on my back."

"I-I wasn't joking! …Gyahhh!?'

"So now you notice it!"

"I didn't see you had such a bad wound on your back, Kamijou-chan!"

Komoe-sensei began to panic at the sudden sight of blood and Touma finally managed to push her aside and enter the room.

It looked like a room belonging to a middle aged man who loved betting on horse races. The badly worn tatami mats had countless empty beer cans strewn across them, and the silver ash tray had a veritable mountain of cigarette butts in it. In what seemed like some kind of joke, in the middle of the room there was even a tea table of the kind a stubborn father would flip over.

"…I see. So you weren't joking."

"I suppose it is hardly the time, but do you have a problem with girls who smoke?"

Touma felt that was hardly the problem as he stared at his homeroom teacher who appeared 12 and kicked some beer cans out of the way to clear an open spot. He was reluctant to sit on the worn tatami mat, but there was no time to worry about preparing a futon.

He laid Index face down on the floor to ensure her wound did not touch the floor.

The way her clothes were torn hid the actual wound from view, but a dark red liquid was flowing out like fuel oil. "Sh-Shouldn't you call an ambulance? Th-The phone is over there."

Komoe-sensei pointed toward a corner of the room with a trembling hand. For some reason, her phone was a black rotary dial phone.

"The mana in the blood is flowing out along with the blood."

Touma and Komoe-sensei reflexively turned toward Index.

Index was still sprawled out limply on the floor but her eyes were silently open even as her head lay on its side like a broken doll. Her eyes were colder than the pale moonlight and more precise than the gears of a clock. Her eyes were so perfectly serene that they looked inhuman.

"Warning: Chapter 2, Verse 6. The loss of the life force known as mana due to blood loss has exceeded a certain amount and John's Pen is being forcibly awoken. …If the current situation persists, my body will lose the bare minimum of necessary life force and expire in about 15 minutes according to the international standard minute defined by the clock tower in London. It would be best if you followed the instructions I am about to give in order to perform the most efficient treatment."

Komoe-sensei stared at Index in shock.

Touma could hardly blame her.

"You're… Index, right?" Touma asked.

"Yes. I am the grimoire library belonging to Necessarius, the 0th Parish of the Anglican Church. My proper name is Index Librorum Prohibitorum, but that can be abbreviated to Index." Index answered in a robotic voice. Logical and emotionless.

"Now then…"

Kamijou looked over at Komoe-sensei and thought.

If he out and bluntly asked her to use magic, she would surely tell him it was hardly the time to be pretending to be a magical girl and that she was much too old for that kind of thing anyway. So, how was he supposed to convince her?

"Hmm. Sensei, sensei. Since it's an emergency, I'll keep this short. I need to tell you a secret, so come over here."

"What?"

Touma waved his hand like he was calling over a small dog and Komoe-sensei approached with no caution whatsoever.

"Sorry," Touma apologized to Index under his breath.

He lifted up her ripped clothes to reveal the horrible wound hidden beneath.

"Ee!?"

He could hardly blame Komoe-sensei for jumping in shock.

The wound was so bad that it shocked even Kamijou. It was a horizontally straight line cut across her back. It was as if a cardboard box had been sliced using a ruler and box cutter. Beyond the red blood, pink muscle, and yellow fat, something hard and white that seemed to be her backbone was visible.

If the wound were viewed as a red mouth, the lips around it had gone utterly pale like a person who had been in a pool.

"Gh…" Touma forced away some dizziness and carefully lowered the clothing that was wet with blood.

Even when the clothes touched the wound, Index's icy eyes did not move in the slightest.

"Sensei."

"Eh? Yes!?"

"I'm going to call an ambulance. In the meantime, you need to listen to what this girl has to say and do whatever she wants… Just make sure she doesn't lose consciousness. As you can tell by her clothing, she's religious. Thanks."

If she viewed it as nothing more than consoling the girl, she could continue to view magic as impossible. For that reason, Touma had changed the focus in Komoe-sensei's mind from treating the wound to continuing the conversation by any means necessary.

Komoe-sensei was nodding with an extremely serious expression and pale face.

The one problem was that Touma had to kill time outside while it happened.

If an ambulance arrived before the magic were complete, the "consolation" would end, meaning that he could not actually call an ambulance.

But, that alone did not mean Touma had to leave. After all, he could just dial 117 with the room's black phone and pretend to be calling an ambulance while actually speaking to a recording.

The real problem lay elsewhere.

"Hey, Index," Touma spoke softly to Index as she remained collapsed on the floor. "Is there anything I can do?"

"There is not. The best option for you would be to leave."

Her overly clear and concise wording made Touma clench his right fist so hard it was painful.

There was nothing Touma could do and it was all because of his right hand that would negate the recovery magic simply by being present in the room.

"…Then, sensei. I'm gonna go look for a pay phone."

"Wait… eh? Kamijou-chan, I have a phone he-…"

Touma ignored Komoe-sensei's words, opened the door, and left the room.

He gritted his teeth at the fact that he could do nothing but leave.

After Kamijou Touma left the room, Index moved her pale lips.

"What is the current time in Japan Standard Time? Also, what is the date?"

"It is 8:30 PM on July 20th…"

"You did not seem to reference a clock. Is the time accurate?"

"I do not have a clock in my room, but my internal clock is accurate down to the second, so do not worry."

"…"

"You don't need to doubt me that much. I have heard that some jockeys have internal clocks accurate to a tenth of a second and you can regulate it with certain eating habits and rhythmic activities," explained Komoe-sensei in puzzlement.

She may not have been an esper, but she indeed was a resident of Academy City. The concepts of common knowledge that were normal for medical and scientific fronts were different between those within the city and those without. Still lying face down on the floor, Index glanced out the window with only her eyes.

"From the location of the stars and angle of the moon… the time matches the direction of Sirius with an error of 0.038. Now, to check once more: the current time in Japan Standard Time is July 20th 8:30 PM, is that correct?"

"Yes. Well, technically it is now 53 seconds past that, but… Ah, no! Don't get up!"

Komoe-sensei frantically tried to push Index back down as she tried to sit up, further damaging her already injured body, but Index's gaze did not waver in the slightest.

Her gaze was neither frightening nor piercing.

All emotion had simply disappeared from her eyes as if a light switch had been turned off.

There lacked any real presence in her eyes. It was like her soul was missing.

"It is no matter. It can be regenerated," said Index as she headed for the tea table in the center of the room. "It is near the end of Cancer. The time is between eight and midnight. The direction is west. Under the protection of Undine, the role of the angel is the cherub…"

The sound of Komoe-sensei gulping could be heard throughout the room.

Unexpectedly, Index began to draw some kind of figure atop the small tea table with her bloody finger. Even those unfamiliar with a magic circle would recognize it as something religious. Komoe-sensei had already grown timid, but now something overwhelmed her to the point of muteness.

After drawing a circle of blood that filled the tea table, Index drew a star-shaped symbol known as a pentagram.

Characters in some strange language were written all around it. The words were likely the same as Index's mutterings. She had asked about the constellations and time because the words written changed depending on the time and season.

As Index crafted her magic, she showed none of the weakness of an injured one. Her extreme focus made it seem like her sense of pain had been temporarily cut off altogether.

A silent chill ran down Komoe-sensei's back as she heard the dripping of blood coming from the girl's back.

"W-W-Wh-What is this?"

"Magic." Index paused after that one word. "I will now need your help and your body. If you do as I say, no one will meet any misfortune and you will avoid the target of anyone's resentment."

"H-How can you say that so calmly!? Just lie down and wait for the ambulance! Umm… bandages, bandages. With a wound this bad, I should bind the area around the artery to stop the flow of blood…"

"That level of treatment cannot completely close up my wound. I am not familiar with the term ambulance, but, is it capable of completely closing this wound in the next 15 minutes and supplying me with the needed level of mana?"

"…"

It was true that an ambulance would take 10 minutes to arrive, even if they called at exactly that instant, and would also take that long to take her back to the hospital, and on top of that, the treatment would not start the second she arrived at the hospital. Komoe-sensei lacked the understanding of what an occult term like mana meant, but it was true that just closing the wound would not bring back her stamina.

Even if the wound were closed at that exact instant with a needle and thread, would that pale girl be too weak to live long enough to recover her missing stamina?

"Please." inquired Index without the slightest change in her expression.

A mix of fresh blood and saliva was dripping from the corner of her mouth.

She had no intensity and there was nothing ghastly about her either. But, her calmness and composure were more frightening than either. How everything she did seemed to widen the wound made her seem like a broken machine continuing to run without realizing something was amiss.

If I do anything that makes her resist, her situation could become even worse. Komoe-sensei conceded.

Komoe-sensei sighed. Of course she did not believe in magic. However, Kamijou had asked her to keep the conversation going to make sure the girl did not lose consciousness.

All she could do was try not to provoke the girl sitting before her and place her hopes in Kamijou's calling an ambulance as quickly as possible, if not sooner, and in the splendid first aid of the EMTs in the ambulance.

"So what should I do? I am not a magical girl."

"I thank you for your cooperation. First… take that… that… what is that black thing?"

"? Oh, that is a video game memory card."

"? …Well, fine. At any rate, take that black thing and place it in the middle of the table."

"Technically, it's a tea table…"

Komoe-sensei did as she was told and placed the memory card in the middle of the tea table. She then took a mechanical pencil lead case, an empty box of chocolates, and two small paperback books and put them on the tea table as well. She also took two small figurines that came with her food and lined them up next to each other.

Komoe-sensei wondered what the point of it was, but Index was still completely serious despite looking about ready to collapse. All of her complaints disappeared before the gaze as sharp as a Japanese sword that emanated from that pale face.

"What is this? You called it magic, but isn't this just playing with dolls?"

Sure enough, the whole looked like a miniature version of the room. The memory card was the tea table, the two books standing up were the bookshelf and closet, and the two figurines were in the exact place of the two individuals in the room. When glass beads were scattered over the tea table, they seemed to stop in places that perfectly emulated the beer cans scattered across the floor.

"The substances do not matter. It is the same as how a magnifying glass magnifies regardless of whether the lens is made of glass or plastic… As long as the form and role are the same, the ceremony is possible," muttered Index as she dripped with sweat. "I just need you to accurately carry out my instructions. If you mistake the order, the pathways in your brain and your neural circuitry could be fried."

"?"

"I am saying that failure will turn your body into mincemeat and kill you. Please be careful."

"Bh!?" Komoe-sensei almost spat out, but Index continued without paying any heed.

"We will now create a temple for the angel to descend into. Follow my lead and chant."

What Index said after that went beyond words and become nothing but sound. Without thinking about the meaning, Komoe-sensei attempted to copy just the tone into something like a hum or song.

And…

"Kyahh!?"

Suddenly, the figures on top of the tea table started to "sing" as well. "Kyahh!?" one of them screamed with the exact same timing. The figures were vibrating. Just as vibrations are transmitted along the string in a toy telephone and come out as a voice in the paper cup on the other end, the figure vibrated and reproduced Komoe-sensei's voice.

The reason Komoe-sensei did not panic and run from the room right then and there was likely because she lived in a city housing 2.3 million espers. A normal person would have thought they were out of their mind.

"Link complete." Index's voice and the voice from the tea table made it sound double. "The temple created on the table has been linked to this room. To put it simply, everything that happens in this room will happen on the table and everything that happens on the table will happen in this room."

Index pushed the tea table lightly with her foot.

In that instant, the entire apartment shook under Komoe-sensei's feet as if from some great shock.

She could feel the stuffy air of the room growing as clear as the air in a forest in the early morning.

However, nothing akin to an angel was present. All that was present was what could only be described as an invisible presence. A feeling assaulted Komoe-sensei's entire body like she was being watched by thousands of eyeballs from every direction.

And then, Index suddenly shouted.

"Imagine! Imagine a golden angel with the body of a child! Imagine a beautiful angel with two wings!"

When carrying out magic, determining the field was important.

For example, a pebble thrown into the sea creates a feeble ripple. However, a pebble dropped into a bucket makes quite a ripple. The concept was the same. To alter the world with magic, the field in which the alteration would take place had to be demarcated.

A protector was a temporary god in a small demarcated world. If one properly imagined a protector, fixated its form, and freely controlled it, one could more easily cause mysterious things to happen in a limited field. Komoe-sensei did not receive any such explanation and was having a hard time imagining an angel. The term "golden angel" only made her think of that thing about one gold one or five silver ones.

As the image in Komoe-sensei's mind lost coherence, the surrounding presence followed suit and lost its form. An unpleasant feeling ran down Komoe-sensei's back like she was wrapped in the rotten mud from the bottom of a swamp.

"Just imagine it! This will not actually call in an angel. It is just a gathering of invisible mana. It will take form according to your will as the magic user!" She must have truly been desperate because even the voice of that cool, mechanical Index grew as sharp as an icicle.

Komoe-sensei's eyes opened wide at that sudden change and she hurriedly began to mutter under her breath. "…A cute angel, a cute angel, a cute angel."

Hazily, she frantically called up an image of the girl angel she had seen in a shoujo manga long ago.

Whatever it was that felt like invisible mud hanging in the room's air took form as if it had been shoved inside a human-shaped balloon… or at least that was how it seemed to Komoe-sensei.

She timidly opened her eyes to check.

…Huh? This will not actually call in an angel? She considered the idea.

The instant that doubt entered her mind, the human-shaped water balloon burst and the invisible mud splattered across the room.

"Kyahh!"

"…The fixation of its form has failed." Index looked around with her sharp gaze. "If the temple is at least protected by a blue color Undine, it will be enough. …Continue."

Her words were positive enough, but Index's eyes were not smiling in the slightest.

Komoe-sensei flinched back like a child whose parents had just seen a failed test that she had tried to keep hidden.

"Chant. It will be over with just a bit more."

The sharp order refused to let Komoe-sensei lose her composure despite her rising confusion and flagging thoughts.

Index, Komoe-sensei, and the two figurines on the tea table sang. The back of Index's figurine on the table began to melt.

It was as if it were rubber being held up to a lighter. It melted, the surface lost its unevenness, it grew smooth, it cooled and hardened once more, and its form came back together.

Komoe-sensei felt like her heart was freezing over.

Currently, Index was sitting across the tea table from her.

She did not have the courage to circle around and see what was happening to Index's back.

Index's pale face was covered in oily sweat.

Her glassy eyes still showed no sign of pain or suffering.

"Replenishment of mana and stabilization of condition confirmed. Returning John's Pen to dormant mode."

Like a switch had been flipped, a soft light returned to Index's eyes. Like a fire being lit in a cooled fireplace, warmth filled the room's atmosphere.

The look in Index's eyes was so kind and warm that Komoe-sensei could not help but feel that warmth. It was the look of a normal girl.

"Now, if the descended protector is returned and the temple destroyed, it will be over." Index smiled painfully. "This is what magic is. It's the same as how "apple" and "ringo" mean the same thing. You don't need a glass wand when a plastic umbrella is just as clear. It's the same thing with tarot cards. As long as the design and numbers match, you can perform divinations with the cut outs from the back of a shoujo manga." Index's sweating did not stop.

Komoe-sensei grew even more afraid. She began to worry that what she had done had only made Index's condition worse.

"Don't worry." Index looked about ready to collapse even then. "It's like a cold. You need your own strength to get better. The wound itself has been closed up, so I'll be fine."

As soon as she said that, Index collapsed to the side. The figurine fell over, too. The tea table shook slightly and the room linked to it was assaulted by a thundering tremble.

Komoe-sensei was about to run around the tea table to Index, but Index began to sing.

When Komoe-sensei followed along and sang one last song, the strange atmosphere returned to the normal and stuffy atmosphere of the apartment. Komoe-sensei cautiously shook the tea table but nothing happened.

Thank goodness, she thought.

As Komoe-sensei closed her eyes in relief, Index spoke. Komoe-sensei thought that anyone would be glad to have their deadly wound healed, but the nun said something else.

"I'm glad I did not burden anyone with anything." Komoe-sensei stared at Index in surprise. "…If I had died here, he may have had to bear the burden."

Index closed her as if to sleep and said nothing more. When that girl's back was sliced, when she collapsed, and when she had performed the strange ritual, she had never once thought about herself. She had been thinking about the person who had carried her there.

Komoe-sensei could not think the same way. She had no one to think that way about. That was why she asked one thing.

She was sure Index was already asleep and would not hear her; but that was exactly why she asked it, yet the girl answered with her eyes still closed.

"I don't know."

She had never felt that way about anyone before, and she did not know what the feeling was. But, when he recklessly angered for her while facing that magician, she had wanted him to run away even if she had to crawl to him and force him.

She could not fathom it, but when she was with him, nothing ever went as she wanted and she felt pushed around.

And yet, those unexpected things were enjoyable and made her so happy. She did not recognize what the feeling was, however.

This time, Index fell into a deep sleep with a smile on her face, as if she were enjoying a pleasant dream.

* * *

Kamijou ran through the city at night. As he ran, he clenched his right hand that could negate even the systems of God but could not protect a single person.

"God Damn It! Why is it that when it matters the most, this right hand of mine is completely useless!" He yelled as he ran through a park.

"If you seriously believe that, I'm going to beat you up."

Kamijou was so surprised that he actually trip on air and landed face first on a conveniently situated puddle. He lifted his head to see Shirou siting on one of the park's benches. "Oh, it's you Shirou."

"So, how long are you going to keep running away?" Shirou asked.

"I'm' not running away." Said Kamijou as he picked himself up.

"Yes, you are, just like you did when Old Man Goroshi died six years ago." When Kamijou refused to meet his eyes, Shirou just sighed as he stood up and walked towards Kamijou. "Listen Touma, what happened then and what happened now is not your fault."

"Yes they were." Kamijou said as he glared at the ground. "They both risked their or my sake, Old Man Goroshi died because of it and Index almost joined him. And all because of this useless right hand of mine."

"That useless right hand of yours saved those two girls on Seventh Mist from that Graviton Bomber, you stopped the Number 2 from getting his hands on Level Upper, and you saved 200 people from a mad man's experiments." Shirou argued back. "And that right hand of yours saved Illya when all I could do was watch as she died."

Touma finally looked up at the last part. Shirou rarely mentioned his sister's near death experience.

"Old Man Goroshi saw you as the son he never had and like any parent he preferred to give his life for his 'son' instead of watching him die." Shirou said. "And Index, she is just like you. She had no reason to go back, and risk her life to try to protect yours, but she did any way. Such a selfless fool."

"I don't want to hear something like that from you of all people, Mr. Hero." Kamijou scowled at him.

"There's nothing wrong with wanting to help others." Shirou said with a smirk on his face.

"…Thanks Shirou." Kamijou said, truly thankful for his friend's help.

"Any time." Said Shirou as he started to leave. "Now if you excuse me, I still need to do a couple of errands for Shizuo-Sensei as extra credits."

Kamijou just nodded as he watched his friend leave. Shirou stopped at the exit of the park and turned around.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Catch this." He said as he threw something at him.

Kamijou catch it with his left hand and looked at it.

It was a deep black, egg-shaped crystal attached to a chain. It was Goroshi's last gift to Kamijou, given on the last birthday party they had celebrated together. He kept it on his left pocket.

"Don't forget to ask for help if thing get too rough." Shirou said as he finally left.

* * *

After dawn came, her symptoms were like those of a cold.

Index was bedridden with a high fever and a headache, though she lacked a runny nose or a sore throat because it was not a genuine virus. It was simply a matter of regaining her missing stamina, so no matter how many immunity-strengthening cold medicines she took, the efforts would be futile.

"…So why are you wearing only panties down below?"

Index, lying down, had a wet towel on her forehead; she apparently was unable to stand the hot dampness inside the futon and had one leg sticking out in Kamijou's direction. She wore a pale green pajama top but her bright skin-colored thigh was sticking out up to its base. Due to her fever, the skin was a bit pink.

The towel had grown lukewarm, so Komoe-sensei stuck it into a basin of water and splashed it around while she glared at Kamijou.

"…Kamijou-chan. I think those clothes were a bit too much."

"Those clothes" likely referred to the safety-pin-covered white nun's habit.

Kamijou agreed with her completely about it, but Index looked like a displeased cat over having her familiar habit taken from her.

"The real question is how the pajamas of a beer-loving, heavy-smoking adult like you fit Index so perfectly. Just what is the age difference between you two anyway?"

"Wha-?"

Komoe-sensei (age unknown) was at a loss for words, but Index went in to kick her while she was down.

"Please don't look down on me like that. These pajamas are actually a bit tight around the chest."

"What… impossible! That can't be right. Now you're just making fun of me!" protested Komoe-sensei.

"Actually, do you even have anything in the chest area for it to be tight around!?" asked Kamijou.

"…"

"…"

As the two ladies glared at him, Kamijou's soul reflexively entered prostration mode.

"Right, right. By the way, Kamijou-chan, who exactly is this girl?"

"My little sister."

"That is a blatant lie. With that silver hair and those green eyes, she is clearly a foreigner!"

"She's my stepsister."

"…And you're a pervert?"

"I'm just kidding! I'm well aware that a stepsister is bad manners, but a real sister is against the rules!"

"Kamijou-chan," she said, suddenly switching over to her instructor voice.

Kamijou fell silent. It was not at all surprising that Komoe-sensei wanted to know what was going on. Not only had he brought a strange foreigner to her, but the girl had had a blade wound on her back that clearly smelled of bad news. Komoe-sensei was even forced to take part in some strange bit of magic.

It would have been difficult to ask her to turn a blind eye.

"Sensei, can I ask one thing?"

"What?"

"Are you asking so you can tell the police or Academy City's board of directors?"

"Yes," Komoe-sensei immediately said with a nod. With no hesitation, she had told her student that she would sell them out. "I do not know what kind of situation you two are in." Komoe-sensei smiled. "But if it happened here in Academy City, it is our duty as teachers to resolve it. Taking responsibility for the children is the duty of the adults. Now that I know you are in some kind of trouble, I cannot sit idly by."

That was what Tsukuyomi Komoe said, yet she had no power, no strength, and no duty to do so.

She merely said it with the straightforwardness of a famous katana slicing straight through the proper place at the proper time.

"I just…" Kamijou said before he finished under his breath. …Can't stand up to her.

Kamijou had lived a long 15 or so years and yet had never seen someone else like that teacher: the type seen in dramas, not even seen in movies anymore.

And so…

"If you were a complete stranger, I wouldn't have hesitated to get you involved, but I owe you for that magic, so I can't let you get involved."

Kamijou's response was just as straightforward.

He had already had enough of seeing people who were willing to protect others for nothing in return be hurt before his eyes.

Komoe-sensei fell silent for a moment.

"Mhh. I am not going to let you get away with trying to trick me with some cool line."

"…? Sensei, why'd you get up and head for the door?"

"I am giving this a stay of execution. I need to go to the supermarket for groceries. Kamijou-chan, you figure out exactly what it is you need to tell me in the meantime. And…"

"And?"

"I might get so caught up in shopping that I forget. No cheating when I get back. Make sure you tell me, okay?"

Kamijou thought Komoe-sensei smiled as she spoke.

With the sound of the apartment door opening and then closing, Kamijou and Index were left alone in the room.

'_She's trying to be kind'_, he realized.

From the smile of a child plotting something on her face, Kamijou had a feeling Komoe-sensei would "forget" everything once she returned from the supermarket.

If he later decided to consult her about it, she would surely act furious and say "Why didn't you tell me sooner!? I completely forgot!" and happily agree to help.

With a sigh, Kamijou turned toward Index who lay in the futon.

"…Sorry. I know this is no time to be worried about appearances."

"Don't worry about it. This is for the best." Index shook her head. "It would be wrong to get her any more involved. …And she can't use any more magic."

"?" Kamijou frowned.

"Grimoires are dangerous. Written in them are aberrant and uncommon knowledge as well as twisted laws that break the common laws of this world. Whether they're for good or evil, those things are toxic in this world. Merely learning the knowledge of a 'different world' will destroy the brain of the one who learns it," explained Index.

Kamijou tried to translate that in a way he understood. So is it like forcefully running a program that isn't compatible with a computer's OS?

"My brain and spirit are protected by religious barriers, and magicians who attempt to exceed being human must exceed the boundaries of their own common knowledge to arrive at the desired state of mind that can almost be likened to a type of insanity. However, for a normal person from a barely religious country like Japan, it could all be over after just casting one more spell."

"I-I see…" Kamijou somehow managed to stop the shock he had received from showing. "Well, that's a shame. I was hoping she would be able to perform alchemy for me. You know alchemy, right? It can turn lead into gold."

He of course omitted the fact that he knew this from an item mixing RPG with a young female alchemist as its protagonist.

"Well, there is a technique for that called Ars Magna, but preparing the tools with modern materials would cost… um… 7 trillion yen in this country's currency."

"… … … …Well, that definitely isn't worth it," muttered Kamijou soullessly.

Index smiled weakly and said, "…Yeah. Turning lead into gold accomplishes nothing more than making nobles happy."

"But… wait. Now that I think about it, what does that do? How does it work? If you're turning lead into gold, are you rearranging the Pb atoms into Au?"

"I don't really know, but it's only a 14th century technique."

"Wait, do you mean what I think you mean? It might actually be changing the atomic arrangement!? You mean you could cause proton decay without a particle accelerator and nuclear fusion without a nuclear reactor!? Wait just a second. I'm not even sure the seven Level 5s of Academy City could do that!"

"?"

"Wait, don't look so confused! Um… um… Ah. If you're wondering just how amazing that would be, that kind of thing would let us easily create atomic robots or mobile suits!"

"What are those?"

With those three words, she cast aside all of the dreams of men.

As Kamijou's head hung down limply, Index seemed to feel she had done something wrong.

"A-Anyway, the holy swords and magic wands used in ceremonies can be made with modern materials as substitutes, but there is a limit. …This especially goes for sacred items related to God such as the Lance of Longinus, Joseph's Holy Grail, or The_ROOD. Even after 1000 years, it seems no substitutes can be made… ow…" As she talked on and on excitedly, she began to hold her temple like she had a hangover.

Kamijou Touma looked at Index's face as she lay in the futon.

She had 103,000 grimoires in her head. Just reading one of them could drive you insane, and yet she had put each and every letter of all those books in her head. How much pain had that process caused her?

Yet she never once complained about her pain.

"Do you want to know?" she asked while ignoring her own pain as if apologizing to Kamijou.

Index's usual cheerful tone had set a context that made that quiet voice stand out and seem to hold even more determination.

'_Sensei, you idiot.'_ He reprimanded her.

Index's situation was irrelevant to Kamijou. Whatever situation she had possibly been in, there was no way he could abandon her. As long as he could defeat her enemies and keep her safe, he saw no reason to dig into her old wounds.

"Do you want to know what my circumstances are?" repeated the girl naming herself Index.

Kamijou made up his mind and replied, "That kinda makes me feel like a priest, y'know?"

In a way, it really did. He felt like a priest listening to the confessions of a sinner.

"Do you know why?" Index asked. "The Christian church was originally a single organization, but now there are the Catholics, the Protestants, the Roman Catholics, the Russian Orthodox, the Anglicans, the Nestorians, the Athanasians, the Gnostics, and more. Do you know why these splits occurred?"

"Well…"

Kamijou had at least skimmed through his history textbook, so he had an idea what the answer was. However, he hesitated to mention it in front of the "genuine" Index.

"That's good enough." Index actually smiled. "It was because politics were mixed in with the church. Sects split, opposed each other, and fought. In the end, even people who believed in the same God were each other's enemies. Even as we believe in the same God, we each walk a different road of many scattered paths."

Of course, people's ideas on things naturally differed. Some wanted to make money with the word of God, while others refused to allow that. Some felt they were loved by God more than anyone else in the world, while others refused to accept that.

"After the sects stopped interacting with each other, we each underwent our own isolated development which gave us our individual characteristics. We changed in accordance to the situations or cultures of our countries." Index let out a small breath. "The Roman Catholic Church manages and controls the world, the Russian Orthodox Church searches out and eliminates the occult and the Anglican Church I belong to…"

Index's words caught in her throat for a second.

"England is a country of magic," she said as if that was a bitter memory. "So the Anglican Church is especially advanced in anti-magician culture and techniques as seen by witch hunts and the inquisition."

In London alone were a number of public companies calling themselves magic cabals, and there were 10 times that many shell corporations that really only existed on paper. Their trials and errors that had begun as a means of protecting the citizens from the "evil magicians lurking in the city" had developed too far in one direction and at some point became a culture of slaughter and execution.

"The Anglican Church has a special division," said Index as if she were confessing her own sins. "It investigates magic and develops countermeasures with which to defeat magicians. It is known as Necessarius." She sounded exactly like a nun.

"If you do not know your enemy, you cannot defend against their attacks. However, understanding an impure enemy will make your own heart impure, and touching an impure enemy will make your body impure. That is why Necessarius, the church of necessary evils, was created to draw all of those impurities into one place. And the most extreme case of this is…"

"The 103,000 grimoires."

"Yes." Index gave a small nod. "Magic is something like an equation. If you skillfully reverse the calculations, you can counteract your opponent's attack. That is why I had these 103,000 grimoires put into me. …If you know magic from all around the world, you can neutralize magic from all around the world."

Kamijou looked down at his right hand.

He had thought his right hand was of no use. The power of his right hand would not let him defeat even a single delinquent, would not raise his scores on tests, and would not make him popular with girls, and so he had mainly just ignored it.

But, this girl had gone through hell to achieve the same thing.

"But if these grimoires are so dangerous and you know where they are, why don't you just burn them without reading them? As long as there are people to read and learn from these grimoires, magicians will continue to appear without end, right?"

"The actual books are less important than the contents. Even if you got rid of an Original, the magicians who knew the contents would pass that on to their followers, so it would be pointless. Although someone who does that is known as a sorcerer rather than a magician," explained Index.

'_Is it something like data posted on the internet? Even if you delete the original data, copy after copy of the data will continue to exist.'_ Kamijou analogized.

"Also, a grimoire is nothing more than a textbook." Index sounded as if she were in pain. "Just reading one does not make you a magician. Magicians change it up to suit themselves and create a new type of magic."

It was less like data and more like a constantly changing computer virus. To completely eliminate the virus, you had to be constantly analyzing the virus and creating new antivirus software.

"As I said before, grimoires are dangerous." Index narrowed her eyes. "When disposing just a copy, an expert Inquisitioner must sew his eyes shut to prevent pollution of his brain, and even then it takes 5 years of baptisms to fully rid him of the poison. The human mind cannot handle an Original. The only option for the 103,000 Originals scattered about the world is to seal them."

It was as if she were discussing what to do with a vast collection of leftover nuclear weapons.

Actually, that was more or less what it was. Most likely, the very people who had written them had not expected this.

"Tch. But can't magic be used by any normal person excluding us espers? Then wouldn't this spread throughout the world in no time at all?"

Kamijou recalled Stiyl's flames. What if everyone in the world could use that kind of power? The common knowledge of the world that built its foundation on science would crumble.

"You… don't have to worry about that. The magic cabals do not recklessly let the grimoires get out to the general public."

"? Why not? Wouldn't it be better for them to have more comrades to fight for them?"

"That is exactly why. If every single person who had a gun were friends, there would be no war."

"…"

Just because two people knew magic did not mean they were on the same side. It was because they knew the power of their trump cards that they did not want to recklessly create enemy magicians.

The grimoires were treated like the plans of a new weapon.

"Hmm. I think I get it." Kamijou seemed deep in thought. "So basically, they want to get their hands on the bomb in your head."

She was a library with perfect copies of the world's 103,000 Original grimoires in her head. To obtain her was to obtain all the magic in the world.

"…Right." From her voice, it sounded like she was about to die. "With the 103,000 grimoires, you would be able to twist everything in the world to your will without exception. That is what we call a Magic God."

Not the god of the demon world, but someone who had thoroughly mastered magic to the point of entering the domain of god.

A Magic God.

'…_Fuck that,'_ Kamijou thought angrily.

Without realizing, Kamijou had begun to grit his back teeth. He could tell from how Index acted that she did not choose to have those 103,000 grimoires put into her head. Kamijou recalled Stiyl's flames. She lived like that for no reason other than to prevent as many victims as she could.

Kamijou could not stand how the magicians were using those feelings to their advantage and could not stand how the church referred to her as "impure". All of them were treating a human being like a thing, and Index must have seen nothing but people who did that. The fact that she still put everyone above herself despite that was what Kamijou could stand the least.

"…Sorry."

Kamijou had no clue what it was that made him so angry. But, that one word made him truly snap.

He lightly tapped Index on the forehead.

"…Oh, come on. Why didn't you tell me about something this important?"

Index froze in place as Kamijou stared at that bedridden girl with his canines bared. Her eyes opened wide like she had done something horribly wrong, and her lips frantically moved like she was trying to say something.

"But, I didn't think you would believe me, and I didn't want to scare you. And… um…"

Index seemed about to burst into tears, and her voice grew quieter and quieter as she spoke. Kamijou could barely hear her toward the end.

Still, Kamijou heard her say "I didn't want you to hate me."

"No, fuck that!" He literally heard a snapping noise. "Don't look down on people and come up with your own estimation of them! Church secrets? 103,000 grimoires? Yeah, that stuff is amazing and incredible. And yes, it all seems so absurd that I still don't really believe it. But…" Kamijou paused for a beat. "Is that it?" Index's eyes opened wide. Her small lips frantically moved as if to say something, but no words came out.

"Don't look down on me like that. Did you really think I would call you creepy or disgusting or something just because you memorized 103,000 grimoires!? Did you think I would abandon you and run off the instant magicians showed up? Fuck that. If that were all I was capable of, I wouldn't have taken you in the first place!"

As Kamijou spoke, he finally realized what it was he was so upset about.

Kamijou had simply wanted to be of some help to Index. He did not want to see Index get hurt anymore. That was it. And yet, she refused to let Kamijou protect her while she put herself in harm's way to protect him. Kamijou had wanted to hear her ask for help just once.

It was frustrating for him. So very, very frustrating.

"…Just trust me a little. Don't come up with your own estimations of people."

That was all there was to it. Even if he did not have his right hand and was a normal person, it would have been no reason for Kamijou to back down.

No such reason could exist.

Index merely stared at Kamijou's face in astonishment for a time. But then, tears welled up in her eyes.

It was as if her eyes were made of ice and had begun to melt.

Index clenched and sealed her lips to choke down the sobs, but her lips trembled as if she could no longer stand it. She drew the futon up to her mouth and bit onto it. If not for the blanket, the enlarged and growing tears in her eyes would have made her seem like she had bawled like a kindergartener.

In all likelihood, the tears were not merely in response to the words Kamijou had spoken.

Kamijou lacked enough conceit to think it was. He doubted his words had made that much of an impression on her. Most likely, something that had been building up within her had come flowing out with his words as the trigger.

Just as he felt his heart break at the thought of no one ever having said those words to her before, Kamijou also felt that he had finally seen Index's "weakness" which made him a bit happy.

However, Kamijou was not the kind of pervert who enjoyed watching girls cry. In fact, it was incredibly awkward.

If Komoe-sensei unknowingly entered at that moment, he was sure she would unhesitatingly tell him to die.

"U-Um… Y'see. I have my right hand, so no magician is any match for me!"

"…But… sob… you said you have supplementary lessons during summer break."

"…Did I say that?"

"You definitely did."

Apparently, the girl who had perfectly memorized 103,000 books had an excellent memory.

"Don't feel bad about throwing someone's everyday life into disorder with something like this. My supplementary lessons aren't that big a deal. School doesn't want to hold me back if they can help it, so if I ditch the supplementary lessons, I can just go to supplementary lessons for the supplementary lessons. I can put them off as long as I need to. It wouldn't be the first time something like this had happen, to tell the truth."

If Komoe-sensei had heard that, that room would likely have turned into a battlefield, but he paid that no heed.

"…"

With tears still in her eyes, Index looked up at Kamijou.

"…Then why were you in such a rush to get to your supplementary lessons?"

"… … … …Oh."

Kamijou thought back. Sure enough, after he had stripped her nude by destroying her Walking Church with Imagine Breaker and that closed elevator-like silence had taken over, he had…

"Because you had plans and because you had a normal life to live, I felt it was wrong to disturb all that…"

"O-Oh. Yeah…"

"I was in the way there."

"…"

"I was in the way…"

Once she repeated herself with tears in her eyes, it was downright impossible to try to get out of it.

"I'm fwowwy!" Kamijou Touma apologized as he quickly entered prostration mode.

Index slowly sat up in the futon like a sick person, grabbed Kamijou's ears, and bit down on the top of his head like it was a giant onigiri.

* * *

About 600 meters away on top of a multi-tenant building, Stiyl took his binoculars away from his eyes.

"The boy Index is with… I've looked into him. …How is she?"

Without turning around, Stiyl replied to the girl who had spoken to him.

"She's alive. But that must mean they have a magic user."

The girl gave no response, but it seemed she was more relieved that no one had died than worried about a new enemy.

The girl was 18, but she was about a head shorter than Stiyl who was only 14.

But then, Stiyl was over 2 meters tall, so the girl was still tall when compared to the average Japanese height.

Her waist-long, black hair was tied in a ponytail, and at her waist was a sheathed Japanese sword over two meters long. It was a type known as a "command sword" that was used in Shinto rain calling ceremonies.

However, it was difficult to call her a Japanese beauty.

She wore used jeans and a white shirt. For someone reason, the left leg of her jeans was completely cut off up to the base of her thigh, the extra cloth at the bottom of her T-shirt was tied off so her midriff was visible, she wore knee high boots, and her Japanese sword was hanging down in a leather holster like a pistol.

She looked something like a sheriff from a Western who had traded their pistol for a Japanese sword.

Just like Stiyl, the perfume-smelling priest, her outfit was hardly normal.

"So who exactly is this guy, Kanzaki?"

"Thing about that… I was unable to get much information on the boy. At the very least, it seems he's not a magician or supernaturally powered in some other way."

"What, are you trying to say he's just a normal high school student?" Stiyl lit the cigarette he pulled out by staring at the tip. "Just stop. I may not look it, but I'm a magician that has fully analyzed the existing 24 runes and developed 6 new and powerful runes. This world isn't kind enough to let a powerless person survive being burn to ashes."

That strange right hand of his protected him from Styl's spell, passing right through it as if it wasn't even there. If he were a normal person in Japan, than it truly was a country of mysteries.

"True." Kanzaki Kaori narrowed her eyes. "The real issue is that someone with that much battle ability is categorized as nothing more than a hopeless student who is prone to getting into fights."

Academy City had a hidden side where it was an institution that mass produced espers.

Even if the organization under which Stiyl and Kanzaki operated was hiding Index's presence, Stiyl and Kanzaki had contacted the organization known as the Five Elements Institution beforehand to get permission to enter the city. Even the magic group that was known as the greatest in the world could not remain hidden within the enemy's field.

"Perhaps the information is being intentionally blocked. Also, Index's wounds were magically healed. Kanzaki, do any other magical organizations exist in the Far East?"

They had decided that the boy must have had an organization other than the Five Elements Institution on his side. They mistakenly believed that this other organization was thoroughly eliminating all information on Kamijou.

"If they're doing something in this city, the Five Elements Institution's informants must have picked up on them." Kanzaki closed her eyes. "We have an unknown number of enemies and no chance of backup. This is a difficult development."

It was all a misunderstanding. Kamijou's Imagine Breaker had zero effect unless it was being used on supernatural powers. In other words, Academy City's System Scan was unable to measure his power because it used machines to measure it. And so, Kamijou had the misfortune to be treated like a Level 0 despite possessing a top class right hand.

"In the worst case scenario, this could develop into a magical battle against an organization. Stiyl, I heard your runes have a fatal flaw when it comes to waterproofing."

"I've already compensated for that. I laminated the runes. And this time he won't catch me off guard again." Like a stage magician, he pulled out the runes that now looked almost like trading cards. "This time, I will place the barrier 2 kilometers around the area rather than just on the building. It will take 164,000 cards and the preparations will take 60 hours to complete."

Unlike in video games, real magic took a bit more than just the chanting of a spell.

It may seem like it was all it took at first glance, on the contrary, quite a bit of preparation was necessary behind the scenes. Stiyl's flames were the type of thing that had instructions along the lines of "Take a silver wolf's fang that has soaked up 10 years of moonlight and…" For this reason, Stiyl's speed was actually that of an expert.

In short, magical battles were a matter of reading what was to come. When the battle started, you were essentially caught in the trap that was the enemy's barrier. When defending, you had to determine what the enemy's spell was, and find a way to turn it back at the enemy. When attacking, you had to predict what kinds of counterattacks would come and rearrange your spell accordingly. Unlike simple martial arts, you had to think 100-200 steps ahead amidst constantly changing surroundings. While savage terms like "fighting" were used, it was actually more of an intellectual battle.

For that reason, an enemy force of unknown numbers put a magician at a serious disadvantage.

"…She looks so happy," the rune magician suddenly said as he stared 600 meters ahead without using his binoculars. "She looks so very, very happy. She always lives such a happy life." He sounded like he was spitting out some kind of thick liquid. "How long do we have to keep ripping that to pieces?"

Kanzaki stared 600 meters ahead from behind Stiyl.

Even without using binoculars or magic, she could see clearly with her 8.0 vision. Through the window, she could see the girl angrily biting down on the boy's head while he flailed his arms around and struggled.

"It must be a complicated feeling," said Kanzaki like a machine. "…For someone like you who was once in that same position."

"…I'm used to it," replied the flame magician.

He truly had experienced that feeling many times before.

* * *

"Bathtime Bathtime " sang Index as she walked next to Kamijou holding a wash basin in both hands.

As if to say she were done being sick, she had changed from pajamas into her safety-pin-covered nun's habit.

Kamijou had no idea what kind of magic trick she used, but the bloody habit was perfectly clean. He had a feeling it would tear into pieces if placed in the washing machine, so he wondered if she had taken it apart and washed each individual piece.

"Does it bother you that much? To be honest, I don't care about the smell."

"Are you the type that likes the smell of sweat?"

"I didn't mean it like that!"

After three days, she was finally well enough to head out and a bath was her first request.

Komoe-sensei's apartment lacked anything even remotely resembling a bath, so their only options were to borrow the one in the manager's room or head to the run down public bath nearby. And so, the young boy and girl were walking along a footpath at night with wash basins in hand.

"Just what era of Japanese culture are we living in?" Komoe-sensei had commented with a smile as she explained the public bath system. She let Kamijou and Index stay in her apartment without asking for details on their situation. Kamijou agreed to freeload with her, because he did not want to return to his dorm that was undoubtedly being watched by the enemy.

"Touma, Touma," said Index in a muffled voice because she was lightly biting the upper arm of his shirt.

Due to her habit of biting people, it was nothing more than a gesture similar to grabbing at a person's clothes to draw their attention.

"…What?" Kamijou replied in exasperation.

That morning, Index had realized she didn't know his name, so he had introduced himself to her. In the time since then, she had to have called his name about sixty thousand times.

"Nothing. I just like calling your name for no reason." Her expression was like that of a child going to an amusement park for the first time.

Index seemed much too attached to him.

It was likely because of what had happened three days prior, but Kamijou was less happy than he was unsure how to feel about the fact that no one had ever said something that basic to Index.

"Komoe said the Japanese public bath has coffee milk. What's coffee milk? Is it like a cappuccino?"

"You're not gonna find anything that elegant in a public bath. Don't get your hopes up so much," said Kamijou. "Hmm, but the giant bath might be a bit shocking to you. In England, the cramped baths like those at a hotel are most common, right?"

"Hm? …I don't really know." Index tilted her head to the side as if she really did not know. "The first thing I remember is begin here in Japan. I don't really know how things are back in England."

"…Hmm. So that's why you speak Japanese so fluently. If you were here since you were little, then you're practically Japanese yourself."

However, the certainty that she would be safe if she escaped to the Anglican Church became less credible. He had thought she would head home, but she would actually be heading to another country that she had never seen before.

"No, no. That isn't what I meant." Index shook her head, shaking her long, silver hair back and forth. "Apparently, I was born and raised in London's St. George's Cathedral. Apparently, I only came here about a year ago."

"Apparently?" Kamijou frowned at that vague term.

"Yes. I have no memories from before about a year ago when I arrived." Index smiled.

Just like a child heading to an amusement park for the first time in her life. It was the perfection of the smile that showed Kamijou the fear and pain behind it.

"When I first woke up in a back alley, I had no idea who I was. All I knew was that I had to run away. I couldn't remember what I ate for dinner the night before, but knowledge of things like magic, the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, and Necessarius were swirling around in my mind. It was so scary…"

"Then you don't even know why you lost your memories?"

"That's right," she replied.

Kamijou knew nothing of psychology, but he knew from video games and dramas that there were two major causes of amnesia: receiving a major shock to the head or sealing a memory that your heart simply could not bear.

"God damn it…" Kamijou muttered as he looked up into the night sky.

While he did feel anger towards the magicians who would do that to a girl like her, he was mostly overcome by a sense of powerlessness.

He now knew why Index had covered for him and grown so oddly attached to him. It was simply that Kamijou just so happened to be the first person she had gotten to know after spending a year alone in the world without knowing anything.

This displeased Kamijou.

He had no idea why, but for some reason that answer truly angered him.

"Mh? Touma, are you angry?"

"No, I'm not."

The question had caught him off guard, but Kamijou managed to feign ignorance.

"If I upset you in some way, I apologize. Touma, what's got you so mad? Is it puberty?"

"I don't want to hear about puberty from someone with a childlike body like yours."

"Mh. What was that? I really do think you're mad. Or are you only pretending to be mad to trouble me? I don't like that side of you, Touma."

"Hey, don't say that when you never really liked me in the first place. I'm not expecting that kind of wonderful, love comedy-esque turn of events with you."

"…"

"Huh? …Why are you staring up at me like that… princess?"

"…"

Even when he tried to force it in the direction of a gag, Index gave no response.

'_Odd. This is weird. Why is Index folding her arms, looking up at me with tears in her eyes, lightly biting her lower lip with a hurt-looking expression on her face?'_ Kamijou intelligently considered.

"Touma."

"Yes?" Kamijou responded, deciding he might as well respond since she called his name.

He had a strong foreboding of misfortune.

"I hate you."

In that instant, Kamijou gained a good amount of experience points for the rare experience of a girl biting down on the entirety of the top of his head.

* * *

Index headed on to the public bath alone.

Meanwhile, Kamijou trudged on toward the public bath. He had tried running after Index at first, but the angry white nun ran off like a stray cat whenever she saw him. Despite this, he would see Index's back after walking a bit further as if she were waiting for him. After that, the cycle would repeat. She was truly like a capricious cat.

'_Well, we're headed to the same place, so we'll meet up again eventually'_. With that thought, Kamijou gave up trying to run after her.

Not to mention that he sensed impending misfortune in the form of an arrest should someone see him (seemingly) chasing a weak and helpless young British nun down a dark pathway at night like a Namahage.

"A British nun, hm?" Kamijou muttered under his breath as he walked down the dark pathway alone.

He knew that Index would be brought to the Anglican Church's headquarters in London if he took her to one of their churches in Japan. There would be nothing left for Kamijou to do. It would all surely end with something like, "It may have just been a short time, but thank you. I will never forget you because of my perfect memory."

Kamijou felt something sharply stabbing inside his chest, but he had no other ideas of what to do. If Index were not brought under the church's protection, she would continue to be chased by magicians. Also, it was unrealistic to try to follow Index to England.

They lived in different worlds, they stood in different places, and they existed in different dimensions.

Kamijou lived in the world of scientific ESP, and she lived in the world of the magical occult.

Like land and sea, their two worlds would never cross paths.

That was all there was to it.

That was all there was to it, but it still annoyed him like a fish bone stuck in his throat.

"Huh?"

Suddenly his vainly spinning thoughts cut off.

Something was not right. Kamijou checked the time displayed on a department store's electronic billboard. It was exactly 8 PM. It would still be some time before most people would be asleep, and yet, a horrible silence had fallen over the area like that of a forest's at night. A strange, out-of-place sensation hung over the area.

'_Come to think of it, I haven't seen anyone since we were walking together…'_ With a puzzled thought and a puzzled look, Kamijou walked further along.

And when he came to a major road with three lanes in each direction, the out-of-place feeling shifted to a full-blown sense of things being blatantly wrong.

There was no one there.

* * *

'_Stupid Touma',_ Index thought as she made her way to the public baths. That is until she walked into something hard that sent her sprawling on her butt.

"Oh, Index-san." Shirou said as down at the girl that had accidentally crashed with him, pocketing the strange cards he had been looking at. "Sorry, are you all right?" He asked as he helped her up.  
"Don't worry I'm O.K." Index said as she accepted his help. Shirou then noticed amiss.

"Oi, where's Touma? I thought he was with you." Shirou asked as he searched for his unlucky friend. When he noticed the look on Index's face, he sighed. "Let me guess, he did something insensible that ended up hurting your feeling, am I right?"  
By the look of surprise on Index's face he had guessed correctly.

"How did you know?!" Index asked in surprise, confirming Shirou's suspicions.

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time this has happened" Shirou admitted. "Well, for now let's go find… him…"  
Shirou trailed off as he looked at the direction Index had come from, his eyes wide open. Faster than she could follow, he picked her up like a sack of potatoes and started running in the direction he had be looking.

"Hey, what are you doing?!" Index yelled as she tried to struggle, however Shirou just ignored her attempts to escape.

"No time to explain, Touma's in grave danger." Index eyes widened at that as they the boy ran to his friend rescue.

* * *

Back with Kamijou…

No one entered or exited the major department stores that lined the road like drinks on a convenience store rack. The footpath that usually felt overly narrow now felt horribly wide, and not a single car was driving along that runway of a road. All of the cars parked on the side of road were empty as if abandoned.

It was like a farm road out in the country. "This is because Stiyl carved the Opila rune for a people clearing field."

A female voice suddenly entered his head like a Japanese sword stabbing into the core of his face.

He had not noticed.

She hid behind nothing and did not sneak behind him. She stood in the center of the wide runway-like road around 10 meters ahead of him, cutting off his path.

It went beyond the point of not seeing or noticing her due to the dark. An instant before there truly was no one. But, in the time it took him to blink, the girl had appeared.

"All of the people around this area have had their focuses averted so that they avoid approaching here for whatever reason. Most are likely inside the buildings, so worry not."

His body reacted before his mind could manage to. All of the blood in his body seemed to gather in his right hand. With rope-like pain tightly binding his wrist, Kamijou instinctually sensed that the girl was dangerous.

The girl wore a T-shirt and jeans with a leg boldly cut off, her clothes completely removed from normalcy.

However, the two meter plus Japanese sword hanging from her waist like a pistol emanated a freezing bloodlust. The blade was hidden within a scabbard but the black scabbard appeared as full of history as the pillar of an old Japanese building, making it clear that the sword was real.

"The God Purifying Demon Destroyer… An excellent 'true name.'"

However, the girl herself showed no signs of nervousness. The relaxed way she spoke, like that of someone having a casual conversation, made it all the more frightening.

"…Who are you?"

"I am Kanzaki Kaori. …I would prefer to not give my other name, if possible."

"Your other name?"

"My magic name."

He had expected it, to a certain extent, but Kamijou still took a step back.

Magic name. That was the "name of bloodshed" that Stiyl offered before attacking Kamijou with magic.

"So… what? Are you from that magic cabal or whatever, just like Stiyl?"

"…?" For a split second, Kanzaki frowned in doubt. "Oh, did you hear that from Index?"

Kamijou gave no reply.

A magic cabal, the organization chasing Index to acquire her 103,000 grimoires, a group striving to become Magic Gods, people who have so thoroughly mastered magic that they can twist everything in the world to their will.

"To be honest," Kanzaki closed one eye. "I would like to take her into our care without having to give my magic name."

Kamijou shuddered. Kamijou had a trump card, his right hand, and yet, the enemy standing before him sent a chill down his back.

"…And if I refuse?" Kamijou asked nevertheless. He had no reason to fall back.

"Then I will have no choice." Kanzaki closed her other eye. "I will have to give my name until she has been brought into our care."

An earthquake-like shock caused the ground under Kamijou's feet to tremble.

It was like a bomb had gone off. The night sky at the edge of his vision that should have been covered in the pale blue darkness was instead colored with a burning orange like that of the sunset. Giant flames were spreading a few hundred meters ahead.

"Index…!"

The enemy was an organization and Kamijou knew the name of a flame magician.

Kamijou reflexively looked over in the direction of the exploding flames and in that instant, Kanzaki Kaori's slicing attack approached him.

A distance of 10 meters lay between Kamijou and Kanzaki. Additionally, Kanzaki's katana surpassed two meters long, so it looked impossible for her slender feminine arms to pull it from its scabbard, much less swing it around.

…But that was just how it looked.

In the next instant, the air above Kamijou's head was sliced apart like she wielded a giant laser. In shock, he froze in place and the blade of a wind turbine behind him to the right was silently sliced through diagonally as if it were made of butter.

"Please stop this," said a voice 10 meters in front of him. "Ignoring my warnings will only lead to death." Kanzaki's two meters plus sword was already in the scabbard. The strike was so quick, Kamijou never saw the blade exposed in the air. He was unable to move.

The only reason he was still standing was because Kanzaki had intentionally missed. The situation seemed so unreal that he had only just barely managed to realize that fact. His enemy was so absurdly powerful that his mind could not keep up.

With a loud thud, the sliced wind turbine blade fell to the ground behind him.

Though the wreckage of the blade fell so closely by, Kamijou was still unable to move.

"…!"

Kamijou gritted his teeth at the thought of how ridiculously sharp that blade must have been.

Kanzaki opened one of her closed eyes and said, "I will ask you again." She narrowed her eyes slightly. "I would like to take her into our care without having to give my magic name."

Kanzaki's voice was unhesitant, her voice so cold she seemed to be saying that that level of destruction was not worth any surprise.

"…Wh-What the hell are you saying?"

As if his feet were glued to the ground, he could move neither forwards nor backwards. His legs trembled like he had just finished running a full marathon and could feel his strength leaving them.

"I have no reason to surrender to-…"

"I will ask as many times as necessary."

In an instant —truly only an instant— Kanzaki's right hand blurred and disappeared like a bug in a video game.

With a roar, something flew at Kamijou with frightening speed.

"!?"

Kamijou felt like giant lasers were being fired off in every direction like a giant tornado of wind blades.

Kamijou Touma watched as that typhoon sliced the asphalt, the streetlights, and the trees lining the street at set intervals to pieces as if it were an industrial water jet cutter. A fist-sized piece of asphalt flew through the air and struck Kamijou's right shoulder, which was enough to send him flying and almost knock him unconscious.

Grasping his right shoulder, Kamijou looked around while moving only his eyes.

One… two… three, four, five, six, seven. A total of seven linear sword slices continued for a few dozen meters across the flat ground. The cuts came in at many seemingly random angles and looked something like fingernail scratches on a steel door.

He heard a click as her katana returned to its scabbard.

"I would like to take her into our care without having to give my magic name."

With her right hand still on the hilt of her sword, Kanzaki simply spoke her words with no malice or anger.

Seven strikes, but Kamijou was unable to see even a single one. She had performed seven iai strokes in that single instant. And, had she wanted to, any or all of those seven strikes could have been a deadly attack that sliced Kamijou in two.

No. He had only heard the metallic sound of the sword being sheathed once.

It was most likely the supernatural power known as magic. She possessed some magic that extended the range of her strikes by dozens of meters and gave her the swordsmanship to attack seven times with one draw.

"The speed of the Nanasen attack that my Shichiten Shichitou creates is enough to kill you seven times over in the period of time known as an instant. People refer to this as an instant kill. Calling this a certain kill would not be far from the truth."

Silently, Kamijou clenched his fist with enough force to crush his right hand.

She had overwhelming speed, power, and range. Most likely, that slicing attack had something to do with the supernatural power known as magic. In that case, he just had to touch the actual attack itself.

"Keep dreaming," she said, cutting off his thoughts. "I heard from Stiyl that your right hand can dispel magic for some reason. However, am I correct in thinking you cannot do so unless you touch it with that right hand of yours?"

Exactly. Kamijou's right hand was of no use if he could not touch it.

It was not just an issue of speed. Unlike Misaka Mikoto's Biri Biri-ing and Railgun that shot in a straight line, he could not predict where Kanzaki Kaori's Nanasen would go due to its constant changing. If Kamijou tried to use Imagine Breaker, those seven slices would likely slice his arm to pieces right off the bat.

"I will ask as many times as it takes."

Kanzaki's right hand silently grabbed the hilt of Shichiten Shichitou at her waist.

Kamijou felt a cold sweat on his cheek.

If Kanzaki's mood changed and she went in for the kill, Kamijou would certainly be sliced to pieces in an instant. Given how she had sliced the trees lining the road to pieces at a range of a few dozen meters, trying to run away or use something as a shield would be suicide.

Kamijou calculated the distance between himself and Kanzaki.

It was about 10 meters. If he ran as quickly as his physical body would let him, he could cover that distance in four steps.

…Move, Kamijou desperately commanded his legs that seemed attached to the ground with instant glue.

"Will you let us take her into our care before I give my magic name?"

…Move!

He took one step forward as if ripping his feet off of the ground. One of Kanzaki's eyebrows twitched up as Kamijou moved to take another explosive step forward like a bullet.

"Ohh…. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

He took his next step. If he could not run away, could not evade to the right or left, and could not use anything as a shield, the only option left was to head forward and open up a path for himself.

"I do not know what is driving you this far, but…"

Kanzaki gave a sigh that held more pity than surprise. And then…

Nanasen.

The small fragments of the destroyed asphalt and trees floated in the air like dust. With a roar of wind, that cloud of dust was sliced to pieces before Kamijou's eyes.

"Ah… Ohh!"

He knew in his head that he could negate it if he touched it with his right hand, but his heart immediately chose to evade. He crouched down with such force it looked like he was swinging his head down, and his heart froze as the seven waves passed overhead.

He had not calculated it, and there was no way he could have succeeded had he tried. He had only managed to evade due to pure luck, and he proceeded to take another powerful step, the third of the four.

No matter how strange of an attack Nanasen was, it was still an iai strike at its base. It was an ancient sword technique that let fly a single definitive attack that began with the action of sliding the sword from its scabbard, meaning that the time when the blade was out of its scabbard left the user defenseless and unable to use another iai strike.

If he took that last step to reach Kanzaki, he would win. The final hope that the thought gave Kamijou was shattered to pieces with a small click.

It was the much-too-short slightly metallic noise of the katana being returned to its scabbard.

Nanasen.

The roar came from directly in front of Kamijou at pointblank range.

The seven strikes were on him before his body's reflexes could even kick in.

"Dammit… Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Kamijou stuck his right fist forward toward the slicing attacks in front of him, but the movement was more like a defensive attempt at catching a ball thrown at his face than an offensive attack.

As long as it was a supernatural power, Kamijou's right hand could negate it even if it were the power of God or of vampires.

Due to the close proximity, the seven strikes were released simultaneously without spread, which meant he could blow away all seven of them with one strike of Imagine Breaker.

As the strikes glowed blue in the moonlight, the skin of one finger on Kamijou's fist lightly touched them….

…And was eaten into.

"Wha…!?"

It did not disappear. Even with Imagine Breaker, those absurd strikes did not disappear.

Kamijou immediately tried to pull his hand back but was too slow. After all, he had stuck his own hand into the oncoming strike of a Japanese sword.

She narrowed her eyes slightly at the sight of him. In the next instant, the wet sound of flesh being sliced apart filled the area. Kamijou held his bloody right hand with his left and fell to his knees.

He was honestly surprised to find all five of his fingers were still attached. This was of course not due to Kamijou's fingers being tough or Kanzaki's skill being poor. Kamijou's body was not sliced to pieces due to the simple fact of her having held back, held back even more, and allowing him to live.

Still on his knees, Kamijou looked up.

Kanzaki stood with the blue moon's perfect circle behind her. He could see things like red threads in front of her.

It was akin to a spider web. It was only once Kamijou's blood covered them like evening dew on a spider web that he could see the seven steel wires.

"I can't believe this…" Kamijou clenched his teeth. "Are you even a magician?"

The ridiculously huge katana was nothing but a decoration.

It was unsurprising that he was unable to see the instant she drew the sword. Kanzaki had never actually drawn it. She had only moved the sword slightly within the scabbard and then moved it back. That motion was to hide the hand manipulating the seven wires.

Kamijou's hand was relatively unharmed because Kanzaki had loosened the wires just before they severed his fingers.

"As I said, I heard about your ability from Stiyl." Kanzaki sounded disinterested. "That was when I realized: your power is not of greater quantity, it is of a different type. It is the same as rock paper scissors. No matter how many times you use rock, you can never defeat my paper."

"…" Kamijou clenched his bloody fist.

"You seem mistaken about something." It seemed to pain Kanzaki to look at him. "I am not disguising a lack of ability with a cheap trick. Shichiten Shichitou is not a mere decoration. Beyond Nanasen is the true Yuisen."

"…" He clenched his bloody fist.

"And more importantly, I have not given my magic name yet."

"…" He clenched it.

"Please do not make me give it, boy." Kanzaki bit her lip. "I don't wish to give it ever again."

His clenched fist trembled. She was clearly different from Stiyl. She was not a simple one-trick pony. From the most basic of the basics to the most complex of the complexities, she was a kind completely differently from Kamijou.

"…Like I can give up."

Even so, Kamijou did not unclench his fist. He kept his right hand closed despite having no feeling in it.

Index had not given up in her attempt to face Kamijou when sliced in the back by that magician.

"What did you say? …I could not hear you."

"I said shut the hell up, you damn robot!"

Kamijou clenched his bloody fist and tried to swing it at the face of the girl standing before him.

But, the toe of Kanzaki's boot jabbed into his solar plexus before he could. All the air in his lungs burst from his mouth and the Shichiten Shichitou's black scabbard struck him on the side of the face like a baseball bat. His body spun like a tornado, and he struck the ground shoulder-first.

Before he could cry out in pain, Kamijou saw the bottom of a boot coming down to crush his head.

In an attempt to evade, he immediately rolled to the side and…

"Nanasen."

As that term entered Kamijou's ears, seven slicing attacks broke the asphalt around him to pieces. Kamijou's entire body was pelted by an explosion of small fragments from every direction.

"Gh… Ah…!?"

Kamijou writhed in place as intense pain similar to being brutalized by five or six people assaulted him. Kanzaki approached him with her boots scraping on the ground.

I need to get up… He told himself.

However, his legs were too tired to move.

"Surely that is enough." Her quiet voice actually sounded pained. "There is no reason for you to go this far for her. Lasting even 30 seconds against one of the top 10 magicians in London is quite an achievement. She cannot blame you after going this far."

"…"

Kamijou's mind was hazy, but he managed to recall something.

He recalled that Index would indeed not blame him no matter what he did.

But… He thought.

He could not give up precisely because she continued to withstand it all without blaming others. He wanted to save the girl who smiled so perfectly with the otherwise heartbreaking expression.

Kamijou forced his destroyed right hand into a fist like it was a dying bug.

His body could still move. It moved when asked.

"…Why?" Kamijou whispered from his collapsed position on the ground. "You look like you don't like this. You aren't like that Stiyl guy; you're hesitating to kill your enemy. You could easily have killed me from the beginning if you wanted to, but you didn't. …You still have enough of a normal human's way of thinking to hesitate about things like that, don't you?"

Kanzaki had asked again and again. She had asked to have it all ended before she had to give her magic name.

The rune magician naming himself Stiyl Magnus had not shown the slightest bit of hesitation in that regard.

"…"

Kanzaki Kaori fell silent, but Kamijou's mind was too hazy from the pain to notice.

"Then surely you know, right? You know that chasing a girl around until she collapses from hunger and then slicing her back open with a sword is wrong, right?" As he spoke the words as if he were coughing up blood, Kanzaki could only continue to listen. "Did you know that she has no memories beyond about a year ago thanks to you? What the hell did you do to her while chasing her down to cause something like that?"

He received no response. Kamijou could not understand.

He would have understood if this magician were trying to gain the 103,000 grimoires to become a Magic God that could (supposedly) bend the rules of the world in order to make some wishes like healing a child with an incurable disease or something for a dead lover come true.

But she was not doing that.

She was part of an organization. She was doing it because she had been told to, because it was her job, and because those were here orders. That was all it had taken for her to chase down a girl and slice her back open.

"Why?" repeated Kamijou, his teeth clenched. "I'm a loser who couldn't save a single girl after risking my life to desperately fight you. I'm a weakling who can't do anything but lie on the ground and watch you take her away." He sounded like he could burst into tears like a child at any moment.

"But you're different, aren't you?" He had no idea what he was saying. "With your power, you could protect anyone or anything and save anything or anyone." He had no idea who he was speaking to.

"So why are you doing this?"

He spoke.

He regretted.

He regretted that he had thought he could protect everything he wanted with the little power he had.

He regretted that someone with such overwhelming power was using it only to hunt down a small girl.

He regretted that the situation seemed to be saying that he was worse than even someone like that.

He regretted it all and he thought he would cry.

"…"

Silence built atop silence, creating an even greater silence.

Had Kamijou's mind been clearer, he would have definitely been surprised.

"…I…"

Kanzaki was the one driven into a corner.

With only a few words, he had driven one of the top 10 magicians in London into a corner.

"I really did not mean to slice her back open. I thought the barrier of her Walking Church habit was still functioning… I only sliced her because I was absolutely sure it would not hurt her… And yet…"

Kamijou did not understand what Kanzaki was saying.

"I am not doing this because I want to," said Kanzaki. "But she cannot live if I do not do this. …She will… die."

Kanzaki sounded like a child, about to burst into tears.

"The organization I belong to is the same as hers. I am from Necessarius of the Anglican Church," she said as if coughing up blood. "She is my colleague… and my precious friend."

* * *

**Author's Notes: Well, here's the third chapter of the story. We learn something about our Hero's past, as well as some of his heroics. And some of the changes have finally started to appear. Though, don't expect much as I like to keep things as close to canon as possible, but do expect two or three originals arcs on the future.**

**Eva-Saiyan: About Touma, even though he is a more experienced fighter, his personality remains the same, although he is more prone to getting depressed if he feels he is guilty of someone getting hurt because of his actions.**

**ImmortalSheep: Both Touma and Shirou have some connections with the Dark Side of Academy and are well aware of organizations like SCHOOL AND ITEM.**

**Aerial Atom: Actually, I took the idea of a tracking origami crane from a video I watched on youtube, where a magical bunny used her magic to bring to life an origami crane and used to track someone.**

**SID: Yeah, Hakuno and Hikari are the protagonist from Fate/Extra and they will appear from time to time, so look forward to them. And about their's and Shirou's power, well it's easy to figure it out if you know how the ToAru Esper powers and Type-Moon's Reality Marble work.**

**If not, look forward to Volume 3.**

**Well, that's it for now. Look forward to next chapter, though I might start uploading new chapters slower than I or you my dear readers might like.**


	4. Arc 1:Chapter 3

**Fate/A Certain Magical Index**

Disclaimer: Fate/stay night and the Fate series belongs to Type-Moon and Toaru Majutsu no Index series to Kamachi Kazuma.

* * *

He did not understand. He did not understand what she was saying.

While Kamijou lay collapsed and bloody on the road looking up at Kanzaki, he thought he had imagined what he had heard because of the surprise. After all, it made no sense. Index was trying to escape to the Anglican Church while being chased by magicians. How could those magicians be from that very same Anglican Church?

"Have you ever heard of a perfect memory?" asked Kanzaki Kaori. Her voice was weak and she looked pained. At that moment, it was hard to believe she was one of the top 10 magicians in London. She looked like nothing more than an exhausted girl.

"Yes, that's the true identity of her 103,000 grimoires, right?" Kamijou moved his split lips. "They're all in her head. I find it hard to believe she can remember every single thing she sees even once, though. I mean, she's an idiot. She just doesn't look like that kind of genius."

"…What does she look like to you?"

"Just a girl."

Kanzaki looked more exhausted than surprised and said, "Do you think she could have escaped our pursuit for an entire year if she were 'just a girl?'"

"…"

"Stiyl has his flames and I have my Nanasen and Yuisen. She is up against magicians who name their magic names, but she cannot rely on a supernatural power like you or magic like me. She can only run away." Kanzaki gave a self-derisive smile. "And Stiyl and I are only two opponents. Not even I would last a month against the entire organization of Necessarius."

That was true.

Kamijou finally learned the truth about Index. He was unable to escape for four days even with his Imagine Breaker that could smash the systems of God in a single strike. And yet, she…

"She is, without a doubt, a genius," declared Kanzaki. "To the extent that using her ability in the wrong way could cause a disaster. The reason why the higher ups in the church do not treat her normally is clear. They are afraid of her. Everyone is."

"That may be." Kamijou bit his bloody lip. "But she's still human. She's not a tool. I can't… let you call her that…!"

"Yes." Kanzaki nodded. "But her current traits are not that different from normal people like us."

"…?"

"Over 85 percent of Index's brain is filled with the 103,000 grimoires. The remaining 15 percent is just barely managing to function enough for her to be the same as us."

That was amazing and all, but there was something Kamijou wanted to know first.

"…So what? What are you people doing? You're part of the same church as Index, right? That Necessarius thing. Why are you chasing her around? Why was Index saying you were evil magicians from a magic cabal?" Kamijou silently clenched his back teeth. "Or are you trying to say Index was the one tricking me?"

He could not believe that. If she were simply trying to use Kamijou, he saw no reason why she would have risked her life and gotten her back sliced open to save him. And, even without the logical reasoning, he simply did not want to believe it.

"…She was not lying," replied Kanzaki Kaori after slight hesitation.

She sounded like she was holding her breath while her heart was being crushed. "She remembers nothing. She remembers neither our Necessarius affiliation nor the reason for her being chased. Because she does not remember, she has to use her knowledge to fill in the gaps. It is only natural to assume magicians chasing the Index Librorum Prohibitorum are from a magic cabal after her 103,000 grimoires."

Kamijou recalled something: Index had lost her memories from before about a year ago.

"But, wait. Wait a second. That doesn't make sense. Index has a perfect memory, right? So why did she forget? What made her lose her memories?"

"She did not lose them." Kanzaki stopped even breathing. "Technically, I erased them."

Kamijou had no need to even ask how.

_Please do not make me give it, boy._

_I do not want to give it ever again._

"…Why?" He asked instead. "Why!? I thought you were Index's comrade! And that wasn't just something Index thought, I can tell from your face! You saw Index as a precious comrade, didn't you!? So why!?"

Kamijou recalled the smile Index had given him.

It was the other side of the loneliness that had led to him being the only person in the world that she knew.

"…We had to do it."

"Why!?" he shouted as if he were howling at the moon above his head.

"Because, otherwise, Index would have died."

His breathing stopped. For no discernible reason, the heat of the midsummer night that he felt on his skin departed. All five of his senses grew thin like they were trying to escape reality.

It felt as if… It felt as if he were a corpse.

"Like I said, 85 percent of her brain is taken up by the memories of the 103,000 grimoires." Kanzaki's shoulders trembled slightly. "She only has the remaining 15 percent for normal use. If she continues to amass memories like a normal person, her brain will quickly burst."

"No way…"

Denial. Rather than use logic or reason, Kamijou's brain simply denied it.

"I mean… I mean… how could that be? You said she was the same as us with that 15 percent..."

"Yes, but she is different than us in one way. She has a perfect memory." All feeling slowly left Kanzaki's voice.

"Think back to what a perfect memory really is."

"…It's the ability to never forget anything you see even once, right?"

"And is the ability to forget really all that bad a thing?"

"…"

"The specifications of the human brain are surprisingly limited. The only reason a human brain can keep functioning for 100 years is because unneeded memories are disposed of by the process of forgetting. For example, you don't remember what you ate for dinner a week ago, do you? Everyone's brain undergoes this maintenance without them even realizing it. Otherwise, people would be unable to live. But," Kanzaki said with an icy voice, "She cannot do this."

"…"

"She cannot forget anything: be it the number of leaves on the trees lining the road, the faces of each and every person during a rush hour, or the shape of each and every raindrop falling from the sky. All of those pointless, garbage memories fill up her mind in no time." Kanzaki's voice froze over. "Having only 15 percent of her brain leftover is a fatal tragedy for her. Since she cannot forget on her own, her only way to live is to get another to force her to forget."

Kamijou's mind shattered to pieces.

What… what kind of story is this? I thought this was the story of an uninteresting guy saving an unfortunate girl being chased by evil magicians, getting to know the girl, and finally feeling a slight twinge in his chest as he watches the girl leave in the end.

He continued to analyze the disparities.

So I came to shelter her before anyone who would use them came to take her away.

I would like to take her into our care without having to give my magic name.

"…How long?" Kamijou asked.

Inquiring instead of denying, he seemingly accepted it somewhere deep down.

"How long until her brain bursts?"

"Her memories are erased at precise one year intervals." Kanzaki sounded exhausted. "The limit is three days from now. It cannot be done too soon or too late. If not done at that exact time, her memories cannot be erased. …I hope she has yet to experience the powerful headaches that precede it."

Kamijou was shocked. It was true Index had said she had lost her memories from over about a year ago.

…And the headaches. Kamijou had assumed Index had collapsed due to the recovery magic. After all, Index knew the most about magic out of any of them and had said as much.

'_But, what if Index were mistaken?'_ Kamijou considered.

What if she were moving around in a state where her mind could be destroyed at any moment?

"Now do you understand?" Kanzaki Kaori asked. She had no tears, as if refusing to allow herself to display such cheap expressions. "We wish her no harm. In fact, there is no way to save her without us. So, will you hand her over before I must give my magic name?"

"…"

As Index's face appeared in Kamijou's mind's eye, he gritted his teeth and clenched his eyes shut.

"Also, if we erase her memories she will not remember you. You saw how she viewed us, did you not? No matter how she feels about you now, once she opens her eyes, you will be seen as nothing more than a natural enemy after her 103,000 grimoires."

"…"

At that instant, Kamijou felt something was strange.

"Saving her will gain you nothing."

"…What do you mean by that?" The feeling exploded out in an instant like gasoline thrown on fire. "To hell with that! What does remembering me have to do with it!? You don't seem to get it, so let me tell you something. I'm Index's comrade. I decided to stay on her side no matter what happens! Even if it isn't written in your precious bible, this will never change!"

"…"

"I thought something was off. If she only forgot, couldn't you just get rid of the misunderstandings by explaining it all to her? Why did you leave it at the status quo? Why did you chase her around like her enemy!? Why the hell did you just decide to abandon her!? Do you have any idea how she fee-…"

"Shut up! You know nothing!"

Kamijou's anger was crushed by Kanzaki's yell assaulting him from above. What seemed to squeeze at Kamijou's heart were, rather than the words she spoke, the raw feelings that were stripped bare.

"Don't act like you understand! How do you think we've felt erasing her feelings all this time!? How could you possibly understand!? You spoke like Stiyl was some kind of sadistic murderer, but do you know how he felt seeing her with you!? Do you know how he suffered!? Do you know how hard it was for him to name himself her enemy!? What do you understand about Stiyl's feelings as he continued to sully himself for the sake of his precious comrade!?"

"Wha-…?"

Before he could raise his voice in shock at her sudden change of behavior, Kanzaki kicked his side like a soccer ball. The unrestrained strike sent Kamijou's body into the air. After landing, he rolled two or three meters further.

The taste of blood overflowed from his stomach up into his mouth.

However, Kanzaki jumped straight up, the moon at her back, before Kamijou could even writhe about in intense pain.

Like some kind of joke, she jumped three meters up into the air with just the strength of her legs.

"…!?"

He heard a dull noise. The flat tip of Shichiten Shichitou's scabbard had crushed Kamijou's arm like high heels.

But, he failed to even cry out in pain. The expression on Kanzaki's face made it seem like she would shed tears of blood.

Kamijou feared.

He was not afraid of Nanasen, or Yuisen, or of the power of one the top 10 magicians in London. He feared the raw human emotions that assaulted him.

"We tried, too! We tried everything we could! We spent spring trying, we spent summer trying, we spent fall trying, and we spent winter trying! We promised to make memories that she would never forget and we made journals and photo albums!"

The end of the scabbard rained down again and again like a sewing machine.

His legs, his arms, his gut, his chest, his face. The blunt blows crushed his body again and again.

"…But none of them worked."

Kamijou heard the sound of her gritting teeth. Her hand stopped.

"Even when we showed her the journals and the photo albums, she just apologized. No matter what we did and no matter how many times we tried, even if we remade the memories from scratch, nothing worked. Everything returned to zero whether you were family, her friend, or her lover." She trembled so much that it seemed she could not take another step. "We… could stand it no longer. We could not bear to see that smile of hers any longer."

With Index's personality, having to say farewell must have been as painful as dying. Having to experience such a thing over and over again would be like living in hell.

Immediately after experiencing the misfortune that was the farewell, she would forget it all and tragically begin a run toward that same determined misfortune once more.

That was why Kanzaki and Stiyl had chosen to lessen the misfortune as much as possible rather than give her the cruel fortune of knowing them. If Index never had the precious memories she had to lose, then the shock of losing her memories would lessen. That was why they abandoned their good friend and played the part of an enemy.

They would blot out her memories to make that final hell as easy as possible for her.

"…"

Somehow or other, Kamijou understood.

They were expert magicians. They made the impossible possible. The entire time Index repeatedly lost her memories, they had to have searched for a way to keep her from losing her memories.

They never succeeded.

Even then, Index had certainly never blamed Stiyl or Kanzaki.

She had surely given them that same smile like usual.

Being forced to connect with her anew each time had led Kanzaki and Stiyl to blame themselves and see giving up as the only option.

But that was…

"To hell with that!" Kamijou gritted his teeth. "That reasoning only takes you into account. You didn't give even a single thought about Index! Don't blame your cowardice on her!"

For the past year, Index had continued to flee on her own without relying on anyone. Kamijou refused to accept that that was the best option. He would not let himself accept it. He did not want to.

"Then… what else are we supposed to do!?"

Kanzaki grabbed Shichiten Shichitou's scabbard and swung it down forcefully at Kamijou's face.

Kamijou moved his battered right hand and grabbed the scabbard just before it struck his face.

No longer did he feel fear or nervousness because of the magician.

His body moved. It moved!

"If you were a little stronger…" Kamijou gritted his teeth. "If you had used fox words powerful enough to become reality…! If she was afraid of losing her memories of that year, you just have to give her even better memories the next year! If happiness, great enough to erase her fears of memory loss, awaited her, she wouldn't have to keep running! That's all it would have taken!"

He forcibly moved his left arm, now with a broken shoulder, and grabbed the scabbard with that hand too. He forced his battered body into a standing position. Blood flowed from various parts of his body.

"Are you seriously thinking of fighting in that state?"

"…Shut… up."

"What will you gain by fighting?" Kanzaki seemed legitimately confused. "Even if you did defeat me, Necessarius awaits behind me. I may have said I was one of the top 10 magicians in London, but there are those stronger than me. …From the church's point of view, I am nothing more than a subordinate sent out to this Far East island nation."

It was likely true.

If they were truly Index's comrades, they would have opposed the church's way of treating her like a tool. The fact that they did not meant that there was a gap of power preventing it.

"I said… shut up!"

It did not matter. He forced his body to move despite the fact it trembled as if he were about to die and glared at Kanzaki standing before him.

It was a simple gaze that held little power but was enough to make one of the top 10 magicians in London take a step back.

"That doesn't matter! Do you resign yourself to protecting people because you happen to have strength!?" Kamijou took a step forward with his battered legs. "No, you don't, do you!? Don't lie! You worked to gain power because there was something you wanted to protect!"

He grabbed Kanzaki's collar with his battered left hand.

"Why did you acquire power?"

He made a bloody fist with his battered right hand.

"Who did you want to protect!?"

Using that weak fist, he struck Kanzaki's face. There lacked anything remotely resembling force behind the punch and the fist itself actually spurted blood like a tomato.

Even so, Kanzaki stumbled back as if truly punched. She released Shichiten Shichitou which spiraled as it fell to the ground.

"Then what the hell are you doing here!?" He looked down on Kanzaki, who had collapsed to the ground. "If you have so much strength… if you have so much almighty power, then why are you so powerless?"

The ground shook, or so it seemed, under Kamijou. The next instant, he collapsed to the ground like the electricity powering his body had switched off.

'_Get… up… The counterattack… is coming…'_ He reprimanded himself.

His vision was dyed in darkness.

Kamijou, forcibly moving his body, had lost too much blood to see or recover. He moved in an attempt to defend against Kanzaki's counterattack but the best he could manage was move one fingertip like a caterpillar.

However, no counterattack came.

Only someone calling his name.

"Touma!"

* * *

"Touma!" Kanzaki turned away from the fallen just in time to see practically a storm of strange arrows coming at her. As she jumped back to avoid them, Index ran to Touma's side while Shirou kept firing more arrows to keep her away from Index and Touma.

"How's Touma Index!" Shirou asked a he kept firing arrow after arrow, before he was forced to jump back as a large fireball crashed where he had been standing just a moment ago, giving Kanzaki enough time to regain her footing as Styl joined the battle.

"He's seriously hurt Shirou!" Index said as Shirou dismissed his bow and summoned a pair of deep white one-handed swords with an intricate blue pattern. He gritted his teeth at Touma's state while slashing two fireballs that Styl launched him.

"Nanasen!"

"Damn it!" Shirou said as he dismissed the blades and summoned a round metallic shield with gold sun emblem on it. The shield was strong enough to protect him, but the strength of the saint's attack manage to push him back until he was standing in front of Index and the injured Touma.

"Listen kid, just hand over the girl and you won't get hurt." Styl said.

"Like hell I'll listen to such a cliché movie villain line as that." Shirou answered as he summoned his black and aimed another of his strange arrows, this one looked like a big black menacing looking screw, at them, making it clear what his answer was.

"Very well, if that's your decision, I will not hold back." Kanzaki warned as she readied her attack. "Nanasen!" In an instant the seven wires split into a thousands, all aimed at Shirou.

Just as he had planned.

"Trace On: Continuous Fire!" Shirou commanded as he summoned thousands of swords and fire them nonstop at the magicians. Their attacks meet halfway, the wires strong enough to destroy the swords and the swords sharp enough to cut the wires.

A red flash crossed the distance between the fighters and impacted the ground with enough strength to launch a huge cloud of dust on the air.

"Damn it!" Styl growled as he threw a fireball at where Index, Shirou,, and Touma were standing, but he was already too late. They had escaped.

* * *

"I see you've managed to get yourself into some kind of trouble once more." Heaven Canceller, a plump doctor in an examination room of a university hospital, commented. He seemed to have been aware he resembled a frog, because he had a sticker of a small tree frog on the ID card on his chest.

Shirou only scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Will he be O.K.?" Index asked her face full of worry.

But Heaven Canceller just smiled.

"Just who do you think I am?" Heaven Canceller said as he left.

* * *

"What are you?" Shirou looked up from the book he was reading at Index's question.

After Heaven Canceller left, Shirou and Index had moved to the Waiting Room, though Shirou had briefly left to get some food for Index. Apparently, she got hungry when worried. Shirou had also informed Komoe-sensei about what had happened, excluding some things of course, and she had promised to visit tomorrow after the supplementary classes ended.

"What do you mean?" Shirou asked in confusion.

"You're an esper, yet you can use magic without any drawbacks." Index explained.

"What are you?"

Shirou closed his eyes as if thinking something over before nodding his head.

"I'm what you'd call a Holistic esper. Normal espers use their powers by imposing their own will and logic on the world; while magicians act as mediums impose the logic and will of some higher being or source in the world. For example, an esper could be someone that can move a huge rock with their own strength, while the magician might be someone who needs someone else strength to move that same rock." Shirou opened his eyes as he explained how esper and magical powers worked in a nutshell. "Holistic espers like me combine aspects of both theories into a single one as we believe that natural systems and their properties should be viewed as wholes, not as collection of parts. We believe that every single thing from animal and humans, to planets and stars, and even things like books and swords are alive in some way or form, although we may not be able to perceive it, and that all living things possess their own personal reality, their own way to pensive the world independent from each other, and the world that surrounds us is Gaia's, the Earth's, very own personal reality. As everything is part of a whole instead of an individual system separated from the rest, Personal realities may influence one another. Just like humans influence has changed the world, someone's actions may influence another person's view or ideals. This also works for both esper powers and magic. As example, it is possible to optimize specific espers personal realities by inputting personal values of other espers, while in Idol theory it is possible for the original's meaning to be affected by how the replicas are viewed in the Present time: The cross used to be a pagan symbol, but now days it is viewed as the symbol of Christianity."

"Then what about Holistic espers?" Index asked as she carefully listens to Shirou's explanation.

"I'm getting there. In order to use supernatural powers, a distortion must first be created. An esper create this distortion by cutting themselves from the proper reality humans' view as a whole. For magicians, a distortion is created by the entity or source they are imposing the will of, as they are too alien for both the world and humans to completely understand." Shirou kept explaining. "But Holistic espers are different. Our perception of reality is so different, much more cut off from normal reality than normal espers to the point that our personal reality is as alien as demons, angels, and gods. We create a distortion just by existing. You could even go as far as to say we're not human."

Ignoring Index's shocked face, Shirou continued.

"For Holistic espers, their main ability is their Reality Marble, the materialization and projection of one's inner world onto reality. While espers may use their own power to move the rock and magicians borrow the strength of a more powerful entity to do the job, Holistic espers on the other hand replace the current world with one of our own creation with its own set of laws that could allow us to move the rock. Although in theory it seems that we're all-powerful beings, we are anything but all-powerful. The materialized inner world is based on our personal reality, and although it may be on the same level as angels, demons, and gods, our bodies are still human and lack the power necessary to projected onto reality, as the world is a much powerful entity than a mere human."

"That's why you use magic, by turning your life force into mana; you use it as fuel for your reality marble!" Index exclaimed as realization hit her.

"Correct, and by going through the Power Curriculum Program, we are capable of making use of certain aspects of our reality marble, for example…" Shirou waved his hand and a couple of swords appeared before disappearing with another wave of his hand. "And some espers are skilled enough to deploy it inside their own body as it stills a part of them." He clenched his fist and three metallic claws were projected from between his knuckles.

Index just stared at the claws in shock as Shirou wiped the blood from them with a handkerchief.

It was such a surreal scene, almost as if it had been taken from comic book.

"Concerning our ability to use magic." Shirou continued as he finally retracted the claws. "Most of us can use magic as long as it's linked to our main abilities, although with enough training, some can use other types of magic with no relation to their powers. For example, I mostly use magic that deals with weapons, shields, armors, or magical objects, other than that the best I can do is are tracking origami cranes. There are exceptions of course. Sakura Matou with her Imaginary Shadow Numbers, Ayaka Sajyou with her Jutsu Shiki: Dark Écriture, and Misaya Reiroukan with Abyss Break can create their own type of magic independent of Idol Theory to a certain extent, while others like Jinako Karigiri with Archive, Shinji Matou with his GameMaster, and Rani VIII with DataMon Drive can only use magic for their main abilities."

Index seemed to think about what Shirou had revealed before asking one last question.

"Is Touma a Holistic esper?" Shirou shook his head.

"Touma's Imagine Breaker acts more like a Counter Force. In Gaia's view, supernatural powers are nothing more than distortions, errors in its Personal Reality. Imagine Breaker corrects these errors by negating the supernatural, though that's not its main purpose. It's also limited as it cannot negate things that the world considers natural, but that humans have come to think of as supernatural, such as souls and life force. It's something that belongs to neither the magic side nor the science side."

"I see you're getting along." Heaven Canceller said as he entered the Waiting Room, a nurse following close behind him.

"How's Touma?" Index asked as she ran up to him.

"Don't worry; he's now in a stable condition, though he won't wake up until tomorrow evening at the soonest. What ever happened to him seriously took a lot out of him."

"Can I see him?" Index implored. Heaven Canceller just nodded before signaling at the nurse. With a nod in thanks Index followed the nurse as she excited the Waiting Room.

"Thank you Sensei." Shirou said as he bowed.

"Hm, there's no need to thank me, just make sure to stay alive if you're going to get into trouble." Heaven Canceller said with a sigh.

"You know, most adults would warn us to stay out of trouble."

"Most adults don't know you well enough that no matter what is said, you'll end up risking you're neck for some complete stranger time and time again." Heaven Canceller rebuked as Shirou made his way out.

* * *

"Ugh…" Touma groaned as he opened his eyes. From the look of a familiar ceiling and the smell of antiseptics, he guessed he had ended up in the hospital. He felt something heavy beside and turned to look at Index sleeping on at his side, clenching the sheet with her fist.

"I see you're awake." Shirou said as he entered the room with a bag of fruit. "I was starting to worry."

"Shirou! How long have I been unconscious!?" Touma asked as he abruptly sat up, waking Index in the process.

"Touma!" She exclaimed as she launched herself in a hug.

"You've been asleep for almost a day." Shirou told him. "I was starting to get worried. Your wounds were pretty bad this time around."  
"I'm sorry! Index suddenly shouted.

Kamijou's breath caught in his throat at that shout that had seemed like a burst of anger.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'm really sorry, I didn't know anything! I was so focused on losing the flame magician that was at your house that I never gave any thought to the possibility that you would have to fight another magician!"

Her angry words were not aimed at Kamijou. Her voice tore into herself and Kamijou was so overwhelmed he could not interject.

"Touma, Mr. Shirou and I found you collapsed in the middle of the road, surrounded by two magicians. He was the one that carried you to the hospital. I was so delighted back then. I had no idea you were on the verge of death while I did nothing but delight in the thought that we had gotten away from those stupid magicians!"

Index's words suddenly cut off. What followed was a slight gap just long enough for her to slowly breathe in and prepare for the main point of her rant.

"…I couldn't save you, Touma."

Unmoving and biting her lower lip, Index's small shoulders trembled as she sat. Even so, Index shed no tears for herself.

Her heart would not allow even the slightest bit of sentiment or sympathy. Kamijou realized he could offer no words of consolation to someone who had sworn not to show any tears for even herself.

"So what did you find?" Shirou asked.

"What do you mean?" Touma asked in confusion.

"Every time you fight someone, they end up spilling their tragic past and the reason for their actions. So spilled it, what did she tell you." Shirou said.

For a moment Touma considered lying.

"And don't even think about lying."

But that route was swiftly cut off before it could even begin. And from the killing intent that was leaking from his friend, he was dead serious.

So Touma told him and Index what Kanzaki had told him, about her past with Index, Index's plight, and how she had dealt with the situation for the past two years. When he finished talking there was only silence.

Until…

"That's bullshit." Shirou commented calmly. Touma and Index could only stare at him in shock.

"Wha-…"

"That's the biggest amount of bullshit I've hear all year. Not even Shinji, the biggest idiot I know, could believe that." Shirou paused in his rant. "Probably."

Somewhere else a certain talking seaweed felt a sting.

"Listen, the brain doesn't work like that, if it did many people, including me, would be death." Shirou said.

Touma's eyes widened in realization.

"What does he mean Touma?" Index asked, unaware of Shirou's ability.

"Shirou's ability is called Unlimited Blade Works. It records and analyzes all weapons and defensive armament encountered. Their entire histories, compositions, and designs are all perfectly recorded, and just like its name implies, Shirou's collection is practically unlimited. He has even recorded swords from Ancient Mesopotamia."

"So think very carefully about what that magician told you." Shirou advised him.

Touma closed his eyes in concentration.

85 percent. Yes, that was what Kanzaki had said. 85 percent of Index's brain was filled with the 103,000 grimoires she had memorized. The pressure that was put on her brain meant that she could fit only a year's worth of memories in the remaining 15 percent. If she added any more memories than that, her brain would burst.

'_But wait a second. How could 15 percent only hold a year's worth of memories?'_ He analyzed.

Kamijou had no idea how rare a condition a perfect memory was. However, he was rather sure it was not so rare that Index was the only person in the world with it.

And, the others with perfect memories did not use some ridiculous method like magic to erase their memories.

If it were true that 15 percent of the brain could only hold a year's worth of memories…

"…_That means they'd die at about 6 or seven years old."_

If the condition were some kind of incurable disease like that, wouldn't it be more prolific?

Also…

Where had Kanzaki gotten those figures, 85 percent and 15 percent?

Who had told her that?

Was the information about 85 percent of the brain even accurate?

"…They were tricked." Shirou smiled as Touma continued to realize the truth.

What if Kanzaki truthfully knew nothing about neuroscience? What if she had simply accepted what her superiors in the church had told her?

Kamijou had a bad premonition.

Kamijou had a feeling that something was mistaken in Kanzaki's description of a perfect memory. What if that mistake were intentionally planted by the church? They might have hid some secret.

"Emiya-chan is right Kamijou-chan." Komoe-sensei, their 135 centimeter teacher, said as she stood from Shirou's side.

"Sensei!" Kamijou shouted almost entirely by reflex.

"How long have you been here?" Shirou asked, surprised at not having noticed earlier.

"Long enough." Momoe-sensei said, making it clear how mush she had heard.

Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, Kamijou asked about perfect memories.

What were they? Did a year's worth of memories really use up 15 percent of the brain? In other words, was it a condition that set one's lifespan at only 6 or seven years?

"Of course not~." Komoe-sensei cut it all down in one short sentence. "It is true that a perfect memory makes you unable to forget garbage memories like the flyer for a sale from last year at a supermarket~. _But it isn't like the brain can burst from that~_. They'll just take their 100 years' worth of memories to their grave~. _The human brain can hold up to 140 years' worth of memories_, after all~."

Kamijou's heart skipped a beat.

"B-But what if they were learning things at a tremendous rate? Like what if they used their memory to memorize all the books in a library? Would their brain burst then?"

"Sigh… Kamijou-chan, I can see why you fail all your development lessons~," said Komoe-sensei happily. "Listen up, Kamijou-chan~. People don't have just one type of memory. Things like language and knowledge fall under semantic memories, things like habits falls under procedural memories, and what we most often think of as memories fall under episodic memories~. There are all sorts of types~. All sorts~."

"Um, sensei… I don't really understand what you mean."

"Basically~." Komoe-sensei loved to explain things, so she was delighted. "Each type of memory goes into different containers~. Think of it like burnable trash and unburnable trash~. If you get hit on the head and get amnesia, you don't just start talking gibberish and crawling around on the ground, right~?"

"So…"

"Yes~. No matter how many library books the person memorized, that would only increase the amount of semantic memory~. According to neuroscience, it is _absolutely impossible_ for that to overwhelm the person's episodic memory~."

Kamijou felt like he had received that supposed hit on the head.

"Komoe-sensei, don't you have test to grade?" Shirou asked reminded Komoe-sensei making her ran out of the room in panic.

'_The church had lied to Kanzaki. Index's perfect memory was not a danger to her life'._

"But… why?" Kamijou muttered in stunned shock.

Yes, why? Why would the church lie and falsely state that Index would die in a year?

Also, Index's suffering before Kamijou's eyes certainly did not seem like a lie. If it were not being caused by her perfect memory, then why was she suffering?

"…Ha."

After thinking that far, Kamijou suddenly laughed out loud.

'Yes. _The church had put a collar on Index.'_

…A collar that forced her to require maintenance from the church every year to survive. A collar that insured that Index would not use the 103,000 grimoires she controlled to betray them.

What if Index did not need the techniques and spells of the church to survive?

What if she could perfectly well live on her own without the help of the church?

In that case, the church would never be able to leave Index be. If she could just run off and disappear with 103,000 grimoires, they would feel the need to put a collar on her.

To repeat, the church had placed a collar on Index.

That made things simple.

'_There had originally been nothing wrong with Index's head, but the church had done something to it.'_

"…Ha ha."

For example, what if they had done something similar to filling the bottom of a 10 liter bucket with cement so that only a liter of water could fit?

They had done something to Index's mind so that her brain would burst after only a year's worth of memories.

That way, Index had to rely on the techniques and spells of the church.

That way, Index's comrades would have to choke back their tears and obey the church.

They wove a devilish program that took even human kindness and sympathy into account.

"…But that doesn't matter."

Yes, it really did not matter.

What mattered and what he had to worry about was just one thing: the identity of the church's security that was causing Index's suffering. Academy City, which monopolized espers like Kamijou, was the cutting edge of science. What was it that Necessarius controlled for magicians that was the cutting edge in its own way?

Yes, the supernatural power known as magic. And, Kamijou Touma's right hand could negate it with a touch even if it were the systems of God.

"From the look on your face, I'm guessing you've figured most of this mess out." Shirou said with a smile as Index just looked confused.

"Yeah, I did." Touma confirmed "Shirou, I need your help."

"Finally! I was getting worried you'd never ask for my help." Shirou said as he stood up.

"Don't worry, I have a plan."

* * *

**Author's Notes: Finally! I thought I was never going to finish this chapter. Shirou finally enters the action and explains just what the hell is he, this story starts to deviate from canon, and I finally introduce my own version on how a Holistic esper works. For those of you who haven't realized it by now, this story takes place in the Toaru universe with characters from Type-Moon living on it. But don't worry; I will introduce a couple of things from Type-Moon into the Toaru Universe. The Kaleidoscope is something that you should not mess with, after all, no matter what universe. **

**Next Chapter: Touma & Shirou vs. Kanzaki & Styl, Index's John Pen Mode Awakening, and the Death of a Hero.**


End file.
